Why is it difficult to accept that whom God makes righteous, is righteous? The prevalent belief is that this is a future proposition. I think that is why "heaven" songs have been so popular among the people of God. They express the longing for a future glory. Don't get me wrong, I love a good awe-inspiring song about heaven!
The more I understand and experience Christ as my Life, the more I realize that "heaven is now." That is also the title of an awesome book written by Andrew Farley. Heaven will be a transition. It will be the ending of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. In a sense, it will be the last chapter; a chapter that will never end! It will be the chapter entitled, "And They Lived Happily Ever After."
Redemption was for the purpose of rescue. Being human, we tend to see redemption more from our point of view. God wanted to rescue us so that we could know Him (John 17:3; Col. 1:13-14). Colossians 2:13-14 is the best definition of redemption I have ever seen, "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (NASB) Notice the verse says "He made you," and "He as taken it out of the way." Do you see what God did? It is not based on what you or I did, but what God did!
So why did He do this? It's simple, He wanted to give us life. I have an old truck sitting in my driveway that is in need of life. I really like that old truck. Someone suggested I sell it and buy one that works. That sounds ok, but I want that truck; I don't want another truck. I'm going to do whatever it takes for that truck to run again so we can resume our relationship. Of course we are more valuable to God than my old truck is to me, but the point is, God did what was needed to give us life so He could resume His relationship with His creation. And just like my old truck, we are helpless to fix ourselves!
Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (NASB) I love that phrase, "so we too might walk in newness of life." We were created as behaving creatures. When you see the word "walk" it is referring to our behavior. The only way you and I can behave Godly is to be alive in Christ or to have His Life. The "law abiding" creature may have tried to behave Godly, but without Life, it was futile. The creature needed Life and that is what God did; He gave us life so we could walk or behave as He does. You and I have the mind of Christ and a new heart from which to operate.
Let me sum up my crazy whirlwind of thoughts: God loved us so much, He rescued us and redeemed us and made us righteous. This was all for the purpose of giving us His Life so that we could experience His righteousness lived out in our daily lives.
The next time you are proclaimed as righteous, do the most humble thing you can do and agree! You don't have to wait till heaven to wear your righteousness, you have it now.
