Righteousness is to do everything in the right way, with no sin to corrupt it. True righteousness is part of godly nature. Then everything is done in the right way; the perfect way to do it.
Does that make it impossible for us to become truly righteous? No! Peter says: “Through these He gave us the very great and precious promises. With these gifts you can share in God’s nature.” 2 Peter 1:4 (NCV). Another Bible translation (CEV) says it like this: “God made great and marvelous promises, so his nature would become part of us.” In other words, God has promised us that His nature can become part of us – we ourselves can become truly righteous!
So we have something to run after, and it will take a lifetime for us to run after it until it becomes perfect in us. But in the meantime, we can be righteous in our situations as far as we understand. And when God shows us something more, we have to obey.
“This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.’” Isaiah 48:17-18 (NLT).
Doing righteousness
To do righteousness in my daily life means to do the will of God as far as I understand. How do I know what the will of God for my life is?
The Holy Spirit, who is my Helper and Guide, will show me and teach me. I have to let the Spirit guide my life, then I won’t carry out my selfish desires, as it says in Galatians 5:16. In other words, I should be obedient to the Spirit, and that will lead me to do the Father’s will instead of my own. Then the fruit of the Spirit grows in my life. And what is the fruit of the Spirit? That is personal righteousness. So if I don’t carry out my selfish desires, then the result is that personal righteousness replaces it.
“For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” Ephesians 5:9.
The only thing God asks of me is that I’m faithful as far as I understand, as far as I have light. But then, as I’m faithful to do what God says, He can give me more light, and I can have a glorious development in that which is good. “The way of the righteous is like morning light that gets brighter and brighter till it is full day.” Proverbs 4:18 (CEB).
Is anyone truly righteous?
“There is none righteous, no not one,” it says in Romans 3:10. But we don’t have to stay this way. We are born unrighteous by nature, full of selfishness and self-will. We have sinful desires in our human nature that drive us to do our own will, and not to seek and do the will of God. That is precisely the reason why we have to run after righteousness with all of our hearts so that we can become righteous. That is the gospel of Christ – that we can change, that we can be made holy, and be made righteous. (1 Thessalonians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.)
But we cannot do it ourselves. It is only by the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we can do anything to become righteous. He shows us the sin that we have to give up and overcome, and then He gives us the power to do so. And as unrighteousness is overcome in our lives, we become more loving, more patient, more gentle, more humble, more selfless. In other words, we become more righteous!
All of this is by the power of the Spirit, but we ourselves must agree when the Spirit shows us where we should change. We ourselves have to be obedient to His voice and give up our own will so that God’s will can be done. This is a work of faith. (Romans 8:12-14.)
Faith has nothing to do with my own strength or my own human good works. It is God who works in me both to will and to do, and the glory goes to God. (Philippians 2:13.).