“And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Genesis 15:6
I was startled today by my nine-year-old journal entry from Genesis 15: “It really isn’t my doing that makes me right in God’s eyes…but how much I believe what He says!” I am sorry to admit that there were many seasons in my life where I exhausted myself with doing. My actions may have been beneficial at the time, but none of them made me righteous!
New awareness often stimulates me to research word definitions…like the word righteous. An article from the Ancient Hebrew Research Center explained that to understand the meaning of a Hebrew word you should consider its use in other verses as well as the culture and thought at the time of its writing. Thus, “a righteous person is not one who lives a religiously pious life, the common interpretation of this word, he is one who follows the correct path, the path (way) of God.”
At every junction in life, I will be tempted to veer off on a more-enticing road or one that seems more sensible to me. For me to continually choose GOD’s path, I must have faith in Him…faith that HE knows best…faith that HIS way is the only right way. And I guess in God’s eyes, it is THAT faith that actually makes me righteous!
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