Becoming Righteousness
Christ made you a new creation with a new mindset. He teaches us to live by faith and look at the world through the lens of reconciliation that you would be His ambassador bringing peace to with God to the world around you.
“This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan. No inheritance in Israel is to pass from one tribe to another, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal inheritance of their ancestors. Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of their ancestors. So Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses.”
Numbers 36:1-3, 5-8, 10
As the people of Israel entered the promised land they were given an inheritance. The inheritance was the promised possession of land that belonged both to them and to their tribe. In that regard, the people were really more stewards than owners of the promise. How could they best steward what they were given?
Righteous stewardship or living the right way in the eyes of God meant that each person did what God commanded them to do. The command in this chapter that God gave the Zelophad girls was to see how the inheritance they received was directly connected to a greater community around them. How are you part of a broader community? How does what you steward impact the community?
This is a very different model of living than we experience in the Western Hemisphere. Culturally, Americans are often known for individualism and independence. Americans are often taught to accumulate possessions and advance their own needs regardless of what is happening to others around them. Is this how we should live as followers of Jesus? What is right in the eyes of the Lord?
“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me...From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”
Psalms 3:3-5, 7-8
David talks about three things in particular in this psalm as he praises God. He says God speaks so he listens, God lifts, and God leads. Ask yourself why David would celebrate these things? Is it not because he has a felt need for help?
David needs a shield because he lives in a world of difficulty. He is attacked, persecuted, and openly faces battles. He needs to hear God's voice because he doesn't have all the answer or understand how things will work out. He needs God to lift his head because our natural default is to let our heads sink when things are hard. God leads him through the times he needs sustenance. He says God sustains me. Those don't sound like easy times, they sound like the times where we feel our weakest.
Jesus said He came to the sick, the hurting, the ones in need of help. He knows our hearts and meets us where we are. Where do you need to listen to God, allow Him to lift your head, and lead you forward? Call on Him and He will answer.
“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame."
Song of Songs 8:4, 6-7, 12-13
How many things do you seal in your life? Perhaps some of the most common is to seal an envelope or to place a seal on something. What does a seal represent and why is it significant? Solomon says place me like a seal over your heart.
Sealing something is far more than just saying words. We live in a world where promises are broken easily and what is said is not necessarily what is done. To seal something is to secure it. It is to bind. It is to place authority over. Sealing something no longer allows for anything to override or change what has been sealed. Have you sealed your heart with Jesus? Have you allowed Him to seal yours? God so often talks about the covenant, the commitment, the faithfulness that He gives to us and asks for us to give to Him. We are called to seal our hearts.
“For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near...Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I set fire to Egypt...I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. No longer will there be a prince in Egypt...Pelusium will writhe in agony. Thebes will be taken by storm; Memphis will be in constant distress.”
Ezekiel 30:2-4, 8, 13, 16
The day is near, the day of the Lord is near. Do you live like the day of the Lord is near? Do you live as though we are getting closer to the return of Christ? Do you live as though you are one day closer to joining Him in heaven? How does the impending arrival of His Immanence transform how you live?
Ezekiel shares the words he hears from God that the truth will be revealed and the false will be destroyed. The truth is the Lord says I am and there is no other like Him. The description of what gets destroyed is no different than what will happen with our world. False idols like money, pride, fame, lustful pleasures will not be able to stand in the presence of the Almighty. Truth says that there are things that are temporary and things that are eternal. Have you taken inventory in your life of what is what?
“For we live by faith, not by sight...For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us...God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:7, 9, 14-21
What would happen if you memorized this passage? What would happen if you listened to the words of the Lord spoken through Paul that you are a new creation in Christ? What would happen if you embraced your role as Christ's ambassador of reconciliation to the world? Would you ever hold on to bitterness, offense or unforgiveness? Would you respond with strong negative emotions in your home or when you are in traffic? Would you allow fear to shape the course of your life? No! We live by faith and are transformed by the truth of the resurrected Christ living in us.
This is an identity passage. Have you ever pondered who you are and what your identity is? Paul says you are Christ's ambassador and you have a message to share. How have you shared the message of reconciliation with others recently? How could you? Paul says you are becoming the righteousness of God. Have you stopped to fully fathom what that means? He who had no sin became sin that you might become the righteousness of God. You are not less than, unqualified, or unworthy. You are a child of God, chosen by God, to become like God.
You might say I just don't see it. I don't see myself that way. That's okay. God sees you. He sees you exactly where you are and He is the one who sets you free. He is the one who began the good work in you and He is the one who will carry it to completion. He does all the heavy lifting and some of the heaviest lifting He does is to lift our heads that we might see who He made us to be.
This is why we live by faith. We live by confidence that Jesus Christ is who He says He is and we are who He says we are. It is by faith, confidence in our Creator, Risen Christ, and the Comforter, that we take a step forward. It is by faith that His word is true and He is faithful that we bring the gift of reconciliation that includes hope, peace, and love to a world in need. Lift your eyes today. Lift your eyes and see how loved you are. Lift your eyes and let the love of Christ lead you to becoming righteous love to the next person God's sends you to meet today.