‘As He is, so are we in this world.’ 1 John 4:17 NKJV
When you put your trust in Christ as your Saviour, God sees you ‘in Christ’. The words ‘in Christ’ appear over 80 times in the New Testament. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see you with all your faults; He sees you in Christ. And since Christ has atoned for [covered] all your sins, you are ‘accepted in the beloved.’ (Ephesians 1:6 KJV) Having a blessed future does not depend upon how much you try to change yourself. It depends upon Jesus, and the fact you are in Christ.
The Bible says, ‘We may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.’ (1 John 4:17 NKJV) You say, ‘But surely you only get what you deserve?’ That’s true, unless you are in Christ. Then you get what Jesus paid for, for us, when He died to cover our sins! ‘For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’ (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV) The word ‘righteousness’ is a legal term. It means ‘to have right standing before God’.
William Edwy Vine’s An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words defines righteousness as ‘that gracious gift of God to men whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into right relationship with God.’ In other words, your right standing before God is based on Jesus’ right standing before God. You should be glad about that. Because the only righteousness that measures up to God’s exacting standard of perfection is the righteousness of Christ. And since you are clothed in His righteousness, you can be confident of God’s acceptance and walk in His blessing each day.
SoulFood: Jer 4–6, Luke 20:27–47, Ps 38:1–12, Pro 8:22–23
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©