More Moments in Matthew . . .
Matthew 1:19 Joseph . . . “a righteous man.”
Notice that Matthew describes Joseph as a righteous man not a religious man – big difference!
I spent a portion of my life trying to nail the religious thing down. Maybe you can relate. Keep the rules. Impress the people that matter. Beat down the guilt. Hide the secret sins. Attempt to have the good stuff out weigh the bad stuff. Ignore my doubts (as much as possible). Being religious is hard work!
Being righteous? That’s not hard at all. It’s impossible! And, all the religious activity of a lifetime added up still can’t make me righteous. No, it can’t, but the Savior can.
1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God . . .”
None of us start out righteous. Romans 3:10 “As it is written, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one;” So how do some of us end up there? By trading places with Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made Him who had no sin(Jesus) to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteous of God.”
Is it really that simple? You betcha. That’s it. No more striving, trying, sweating, spinning my wheels attempting to be religious so that it will somehow make me righteous. All that’s required is the humility to agree with God about my unrighteous self. Then I accept Christ’s offer to stand in for me. He takes my sin and I take His righteousness. Now when the Father looks at me, He sees righteousness – Christ’s righteousness all over me!
So how does a righteous person live? Not perfectly. Ecclesiastes 7:20 proclaims, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and never sins.” It’s just that for a righteous man or woman or child, the good that we do now is not an attempt to earn God’s favor. It’s gratitude for all He’s done!
Proverbs 24:16 “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again . . .”
Joseph was a righteous man, not a religious man – big difference! How about you?
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