Righteousness

[AlexDTX]

I know I'm not righteous. But the problem is I don't think I ever will be. I Iived/live a terrible sinful life. Looking back on all my sins I feel disgusted with myself. I feel like I could have done better. I'm so confused with being on the right path. I think it's too late for me. I think I'm going to hell . There's no justification. (Wisdom is justified by her deeds) I want to be a true Christian. Nah I just want to be real.. i don't want to be a hypocrite....the fire is there. I know I love the Lord. I just don't know who I am anymore.. or how to be righteous...and live for the Lord...i have the fire in me though...the passion to live for the Lord is there..i read my bible sometimes though some of the stuff in there is too much for me to comprehend. And I forget a lot. I don't pray much. I never really lived that Christian lifestyle. You know. But I always claimed that I love God. Though my actions never really showed it....and I guess I'm starting to wake up and see that I'm not living right. I guess my question is how does one become righteous or live truly for the Lord?

Jenniferdiana,
If you are born again, you are righteous regardless of what you do. Your sense of guilt and condemnation comes from seeing your self apart from Christ. You clearly have a works mentality. Even many who understand the positional righteousness we have in Christ may still look upon their works as a determination of righteousness or not. This is not true.

It is impossible for us to make right decisions because of our limited existence. The only one who can make right decisions is God since He exists apart from time and space, sees everything at once and knows what is right and what is wrong. He knows what is right and what is wrong because he sees every outcome of every choice. We can not do that.

That is not say we can not have guidelines. We have been given guidelines: we have our conscious, we have the knowledge of right and wrong in our hearts, and we have been given the Scriptures. Jesus came to Earth as a created man and emptied himself of his divinity so that he had to live as a human just like us. Jesus lived the perfect life because he had all that we had, plus one more thing: the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at birth so he was able to be led by the Spirit his entire life.

The new birth has been given to us so we, too, can be led by the Spirit. However, there is still one aspect that we have that Jesus did not have. In his incarnation, there was no sin in his body or soul. We can renew our souls by the Word and the Spirit, but our bodies remain mortal and need redemption, which is why all creation is groaning and waiting for the redemption of our bodies. Consequently, even though we can also be led by the Spirit we are more likely to make mistakes.

Several years ago, the Lord brought understanding to me of these verses.

Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.​

The Spirit within us knows the kind of mistakes we make and intercedes for us so all things work for good for those of us who love God and are called according to his purpose, despite the mistakes we make. In other words, He rights our wrongs in this life. That means, we are righteous not only positionally in Christ, but we are righteous in deed through the Spirit working outcomes that become right.

As I said in the beginning, what is right is also what ends right, and we can not know how anything ends because we are limited beings. But God know all outcomes and He can take our wrong decisions, and still make it come out right in the end. It is God who is working on our behalf to turn all things to good. Like the potter and the clay, even if the first pottery formed is marred, the potter can still turn in into something better, even though it is different.

If you see your righteousness strictly by what you do and know, yes, you are a loser, but then so am I and everyone else. As a lover of Christ, however, you need to see your righteousness from His point of view, not yours.

Finally, for all the legalists who will argue against what I am saying, I am not saying you should be stupid and sin willy nilly since God will work it out for you. We are not to tempt the Lord. All sin has death as a consequence. We still need to follow the guidelines of our conscious, our hearts, the Scriptures and the leading of the Spirit. To not follow these guidelines shows either gross stupidity on our parts, or we do not love the Lord and are not called according to his purpose. The work of God on our behalf then becomes jammed. So we are not stupid, but are wise in recognizing sin and steering clear of it at every sighting, choosing the right paths instead. Then, while we are choosing the right path, the grace of God covers our mistakes that will still happen because of the mortal state we remain in until we are glorified.

 

[disciple1]

I know I'm not righteous. But the problem is I don't think I ever will be. I Iived/live a terrible sinful life. Looking back on all my sins I feel disgusted with myself. I feel like I could have done better. I'm so confused with being on the right path. I think it's too late for me. I think I'm going to hell . There's no justification. (Wisdom is justified by her deeds) I want to be a true Christian. Nah I just want to be real.. i don't want to be a hypocrite....the fire is there. I know I love the Lord. I just don't know who I am anymore.. or how to be righteous...and live for the Lord...i have the fire in me though...the passion to live for the Lord is there..i read my bible sometimes though some of the stuff in there is too much for me to comprehend. And I forget a lot. I don't pray much. I never really lived that Christian lifestyle. You know. But I always claimed that I love God. Though my actions never really showed it....and I guess I'm starting to wake up and see that I'm not living right. I guess my question is how does one become righteous or live truly for the Lord?

Let me explain sin first, everyone sins, no one stops.
1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8
Love covers a great many sins.


I'll show you the law and it's purpose now.

1 John chapter 1 verse 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
James chapter 2 verse 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

1 Timothy chapter 1 verse7, 8
They want to be teachers of the law but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
Galatians chapter 3 verses 24,25,23
So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.

 

[aiki]

I know I'm not righteous. But the problem is I don't think I ever will be.

You'll never reach sinless perfection in this life, though you can get much closer to it than you are at the moment. This is true of us all. We will never in actual practice be perfect in our conduct, but with God's help we can be much, much better than we are.

I Iived/live a terrible sinful life. Looking back on all my sins I feel disgusted with myself. I feel like I could have done better.

Not by yourself. That's the message of the Gospel of salvation: You can't ever be good enough for God on your own. You need a Saviour; someone to rescue you from yourself, from your sinful inclinations and the deadly eternal consequences that result from the evil that you do.

I think it's too late for me. I think I'm going to hell .

It's only too late when you pass through the doorway of death into eternity. Prior to this moment, you may turn to Christ at any time and receive him as your Saviour and Lord. If you already have, then understand that you are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The nature of your works has nothing to do with your salvation. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us," the Bible says.

There's no justification. (Wisdom is justified by her deeds) I want to be a true Christian. Nah I just want to be real.. i don't want to be a hypocrite....the fire is there.

Justification is available to all, freely given by God because of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins. Being justified - being declared righteous - by God is where being a true Christian begins.

What does "being real" mean? There is our reality, the one we define by our feelings and experience, and then there is God's reality, what He says is true of us, that we must take hold of by faith. God calls us to "walk by faith, not by sight," to adopt a new reality for ourselves, God's reality, and by faith in it become transformed by it.

I know I love the Lord.

Oh? The heart of the problem when we sin is that we love our sin - and the root of all sin which is Self - more than we love God. Sin is always, at bottom, a love problem. The sin in our life shows us that we love Self more than we love God. Until that changes, until we consistently and persistently die to Self and live unto God, sin will always be a common part of our daily experience.

I just don't know who I am anymore.. or how to be righteous...and live for the Lord...i have the fire in me though...the passion to live for the Lord is there..

Living for the Lord means dying to your Self (Romans 8:13). Walking with God means taking His way rather than your own. At the very heart of the Christian life is a choice: Who will sit on the throne of my life? Me or God? Until you begin to practice a life of daily surrender to God, to His will and way, the life God calls you to live will continue to evade you. The way up is down. God lifts up only those who have humbled themselves before Him (1 Peter 5:6), who have submitted their wills to His (James 4:6, 7), who have given themselves up to Him as "living sacrifices." (Romans 12:1) Are you ready to die? Are you ready to give up everything for God? Are you willing to go where He says to go and do whatever He says to do? This is the true Christian life.

i read my bible sometimes though some of the stuff in there is too much for me to comprehend. And I forget a lot. I don't pray much. I never really lived that Christian lifestyle. You know. But I always claimed that I love God. Though my actions never really showed it....

"The proof is in the pudding." Love is as love does.

I guess my question is how does one become righteous or live truly for the Lord?

See above. I would add, though, that salvation and justification (being declared righteous) and sanctification (becoming righteous in daily living) is all God's work in us by His Spirit. We can't make ourselves be anything other than what we are. We can only produce more of ourselves. Only God can make us godly. He must bring us to a place of surrender; He must change our desires; He must enable us to move away from our sin and into a holy life; He must give to us the love for Him that He desires from us. From beginning to end, our walk with God is all His doing. Our "job" as Christians is to trust, to love, to surrender to, and to depend upon Him.

John 15:4-5
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

 

[Symph]

God knows his children very well, he knows we're incapable of being righteous, Jesus said no man could do it. That's why he imparts you with His righteousness when you love his son. You said you don't pray much, I'm guessing that's guilt perhaps? Maybe you feel God is kinda scary and you're afraid to talk to Him? When Jesus died and gave you His righteousness, it doesn't mean you physically became a righteous person, it means you are counted righteous giving you access to God! That's the point, He wants you to be able to let HIM help, and have a relationship with Him WHILE you're a sinner. So perhaps your main problem is just not believing you're forgiven and a friend of God's. But you are, he wants to help, so don't be afraid to step up your prayer life, come boldly into His throne room, he invites you to.

 

[ladodgers6]

It is true that our own righteousness is not enough to make us acceptable to God and no effort will ever do it as long as we live. God knew this and this is why Jesus died on the cross for us. He took our sinfulness and exchanged it with His righteousness. God see us through the righteousness of Christ. Therefore you can say you are righteousness but not with your own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ that was given to you as the gift of God.

It is a principle that the closer we get to God, the more we see our own sinfulness. Actually, seeing our own sinfulness is part of the grace of God to us. Our response to this will be to run to Christ and hold on to Him. God rejoices over us for that.

As an example, Paul wrote to Timothy near the end of his life and ministry after many years of walking with God and growing in grace, and said "I am the chief of sinners." He did not say he was the chief of sinners because of his life before his conversion. He is saying that he IS the chief of sinners after his many years of Christian life and ministry.

But he also told the Romans that there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus and noone can lay any charge against believers except God who actually justifies and Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. So, if Jesus who is our defence lawyer, and the Father who accepts without question the advocacy of His Son, are the only ones who can accuse us of sin, there is only one other person who accuses and he is the devil and he is a liar! So, anyone who accuses you of sin is reflecting only the accusations of the devil and are his mouthpiece.

Even the thoughts you have in yourself that you are not righteous and that you are sinful are the thoughts that an accusing demon has injected into your mind. They are not the thoughts that come from the Holy Spirit. God said through Jeremiah, "These are the thoughts I have toward you, to give you a hope and a future." not to beat you down because of your sins.

Wow! from a Pentecostal, like it!

 

[GirdYourLoins]

First of all the Bible says "No one is righteous, not even one". So you are not alone. Paul said that he was the greatest of sinners. If you were aboe to live a perfect life you would not need Jesus but God teaches us that we do need Him because we are sinners.

You will also find a few people on here who claim that as a Christian they are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live lives with no sin. I dont believe them. We are on a journey in our walk wth God. We should be looking to improve as we mature as Christians and a conviction of sin can be part of this. As we recognise sin in our lives we need to repent of it, receive Gods forgiveness and forgive ourselves. We may even repeatedly sin in the same ways repeatedly. While it is not ideal God knows we are weak loves us anyway. He said He would right the law on our hearts and as long as we have conviction of our sin it shows that this is (or at least hopefully!) the case.

 

[Small Fish]

So are you guys saying I just have to believe and have faith in God?

You must receive the Holy Spirit. It's not our righteousness that lives above the reproach of the world. It's Christ living in and through us. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way and few there will be that found it. That's the harsh truth.

Yet, it is still available. Not sure for how long anymore.

 

[aiki]

You will also find a few people on here who claim that as a Christian they are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live lives with no sin. I dont believe them.

Not totally without sin, no, but certainly with a great deal less sin. Making sin in our lives the exception rather than the rule is precisely what the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit does in us - if we let him.

Be very careful you aren't encouraging in the OP an attitude of complacency toward her sin. The forgiveness God extends to us Christ bought for us at a terrible price. God does not appreciate it when we treat our sin and His forgiveness of it lightly:

Hebrews 10:29-31
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The Lord will judge His people."
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Every time you sin knowing the price Christ paid for it you "trample under foot the Son of God." Every time you tell yourself, "Meh, I screwed up again but God'll forgive me," you insult the Spirit of grace. Every time you encourage a fellow believer to be easy about their sin and reconciled to its constant occurrence you "count the blood of the covenant by which you are sanctified a common thing." These are very dangerous things to do; for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

[Symph]

Not totally without sin, no, but certainly with a great deal less sin. Making sin in our lives the exception rather than the rule is precisely what the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit does in us - if we let him.

Be very careful you aren't encouraging in the OP an attitude of complacency toward her sin. The forgiveness God extends to us Christ bought for us at a terrible price. God does not appreciate it when we treat our sin and His forgiveness of it lightly:

Hebrews 10:29-31
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The Lord will judge His people."
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Every time you sin knowing the price Christ paid for it you "trample under foot the Son of God." Every time you tell yourself, "Meh, I screwed up again but God'll forgive me," you insult the Spirit of grace. Every time you encourage a fellow believer to be easy about their sin and reconciled to its constant occurrence you "count the blood of the covenant by which you are sanctified a common thing." These are very dangerous things to do; for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But every time you wallow in guilt over it you ALSO deny the cross. I can see how it can seem very confusing when we think it's more about what we do than it is. But I think if you are saying that we should try to feel guilty over every sin and always be trying to diligently keep tabs on every move we make, I think that's just going to the other extreme. For me it just goes like this.

If I forget Jesus and stop praying and stop reading and I just go about my business, eventually I begin to feel icky. I just start feeling kinda spiritually dead, and then more sins begin to creep up. When I'm diligent with Jesus, and I stay focused, I can tell that he is leading me toward righteousness, and I feel covered for mistakes I make, and I feel no need to try and police myself, because I'm walking with God, he'll convict me. And he DOES, but he doesn't every time, he let's some sins go for a while as he works on others. He seems to have a very precise plan of how he's making me righteous, often times using great adversities to get the biggest results.

And another funny thing I've noticed in regard to people saying The Holy Spirit "took away their sins", for me? The more sins I see God remove, the more I can see how far away from righteousness I really am. The more I can realize that it's not just about not doing certain things, it's about my heart not bleeding for humanity, not wanting to give every second of every day it's all to the Lord. It's a lack of light in my eyes, it goes soooo much deeper than the average idea of "Well I don't curse, drink, smoke, or lie guess I'm good" no, we're light years further away from true righteousness than that.

So yeah, I wouldn't trust that claim either, the closer I get to being righteous, the further I realize I am from it.

 

[Symph]

I think we will still be being made righteous in the millennial reign personally. We may even still be being perfected through all of eternity. If God is infinitely righteous, then is there even an end to the perfecting? It could go on and on for the rest of our existences.

 

[aiki]

But every time you wallow in guilt over it you ALSO deny the cross.

Wallowing in guilt is counter-productive spiritually, I agree. Wallowing is what Self does; it is not what the Holy Spirit leads us into. But there is a place for godly sorrow over our sin:

James 4:8-10
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

2 Corinthians 7:10-11
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication!...

But I think if you are saying that we should try to feel guilty over every sin and always be trying to diligently keep tabs on every move we make, I think that's just going to the other extreme.

Well, I don't know that one should try to feel guilty. One either feels guilty or one does not. A sense of shame and guilt is not inappropriate or unreasonable, however, when we recognize that we have sinned. As I said, Christ bore the penalty for all our sin on the cross. Our forgiveness does not come cheap and we should not behave as though it does. This isn't extreme thinking; it is merely biblical thinking. Western Christians have drifted into a deep complacency about their sin, resigning themselves to the notion that the Christian life is an endless cycle of sin-confess-sin-confess. This is entirely opposite the message of Scripture which invites us to a life of victory over sin (see Romans 6:1-18).

And another funny thing I've noticed in regard to people saying The Holy Spirit "took away their sins", for me? The more sins I see God remove, the more I can see how far away from righteousness I really am. The more I can realize that it's not just about not doing certain things, it's about my heart not bleeding for humanity, not wanting to give every second of every day it's all to the Lord. It's a lack of light in my eyes, it goes soooo much deeper than the average idea of "Well I don't curse, drink, smoke, or lie guess I'm good" no, we're light years further away from true righteousness than that.

So yeah, I wouldn't trust that claim either, the closer I get to being righteous, the further I realize I am from it.

Recognizing as God takes you deeper and deeper with Him the full scope of your sinfulness doesn't preclude sanctification. Seeing the mountain before you shouldn't lead you to think traversing it is impossible. Our sin may tower over us, but this is no excuse not to move toward eradicating it from our lives and becoming holy as God is holy as Scripture commands. We will never reach the summit of the mountain this side of eternity, but we can certainly get high on its slopes if we make the climb in God's strength. Too many believers these days, though, use your thinking to justify not moving beyond their sin at all.

Romans 6:1-7
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

 

[Faith Alone 1 Cor 15:1-4]

So how do I get back on the right path...whats a Christians lifestyle consist of?

Use christian's bar of soap to clean yourself .
1 John 1:9

it's unlimited soap it can never run out , but still don't get dirty often .

 

[faroukfarouk]

I know I'm not righteous. But the problem is I don't think I ever will be. I Iived/live a terrible sinful life. Looking back on all my sins I feel disgusted with myself. I feel like I could have done better. I'm so confused with being on the right path. I think it's too late for me. I think I'm going to hell . There's no justification. (Wisdom is justified by her deeds) I want to be a true Christian. Nah I just want to be real.. i don't want to be a hypocrite....the fire is there. I know I love the Lord. I just don't know who I am anymore.. or how to be righteous...and live for the Lord...i have the fire in me though...the passion to live for the Lord is there..i read my bible sometimes though some of the stuff in there is too much for me to comprehend. And I forget a lot. I don't pray much. I never really lived that Christian lifestyle. You know. But I always claimed that I love God. Though my actions never really showed it....and I guess I'm starting to wake up and see that I'm not living right. I guess my question is how does one become righteous or live truly for the Lord?

Romans is all about justification; being reckoned righteous by faith in the Lord Jesus Who died at the Cross for sinners. Rather than seeking to establish our own righteousness - impossible - it means instead by faith being clothed with the righteousness of Another.

 

[Symph]

Wallowing in guilt is counter-productive spiritually, I agree. Wallowing is what Self does; it is not what the Holy Spirit leads us into. But there is a place for godly sorrow over our sin:

James 4:8-10
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

2 Corinthians 7:10-11
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication!...



Well, I don't know that one should try to feel guilty. One either feels guilty or one does not. A sense of shame and guilt is not inappropriate or unreasonable, however, when we recognize that we have sinned. As I said, Christ bore the penalty for all our sin on the cross. Our forgiveness does not come cheap and we should not behave as though it does. This isn't extreme thinking; it is merely biblical thinking. Western Christians have drifted into a deep complacency about their sin, resigning themselves to the notion that the Christian life is an endless cycle of sin-confess-sin-confess. This is entirely opposite the message of Scripture which invites us to a life of victory over sin (see Romans 6:1-18).



Recognizing as God takes you deeper and deeper with Him the full scope of your sinfulness doesn't preclude sanctification. Seeing the mountain before you shouldn't lead you to think traversing it is impossible. Our sin may tower over us, but this is no excuse not to move toward eradicating it from our lives and becoming holy as God is holy as Scripture commands. We will never reach the summit of the mountain this side of eternity, but we can certainly get high on its slopes if we make the climb in God's strength. Too many believers these days, though, use your thinking to justify not moving beyond their sin at all.

Romans 6:1-7
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

But what are you striving toward is the question. Because my point is I have personally seen how when I just focus on Jesus and fill myself more with Him and His Word, he begins to CAUSE convictions, he begins to orchestrate events that LEAD me out of my sin. I don't strive myself against the sin, I strive to stay ever present in Jesus and keep my mind on holy things, this causes the sanctification to just happen and I fully believe it's God leading it. When I have tried to strive against my sin in the sense that I was doing my best to stop all bad habits and watch myself, I didn't feel connected to Jesus, I felt like a hopeless basket case. It's turning it over to Him, and fixating on Him, that I see ACTUALLY start removing sins from my life. And I'm not in any way upset about the fact that it shows me how far I am from righteousness, because it's not that I'm seeing "oh I'm soooo horrible and so much more terrible than I thought" No I'm seeing that HE is so much HIGHER than I thought, and His level is sooooo far beyond me. It actually comforts me because I'm like "Well no wonder nobody can do this, we're soooooo far from it!" And then I tend to just trust more because I realize it's only God who could get me there anyway, no striving in that direction from me is gonna help, I'm pretty useless at willing myself out of sin. But I can will myself toward Jesus and watch Him take care of it in His time.

 

[Symph]

Use christian's bar of soap to clean yourself .
1 John 1:9

it's unlimited soap it can never run out , but still don't get dirty often .

Lol silly

 

[paul becke]

I know I'm not righteous. But the problem is I don't think I ever will be. I Iived/live a terrible sinful life. Looking back on all my sins I feel disgusted with myself. I feel like I could have done better. I'm so confused with being on the right path. I think it's too late for me. I think I'm going to hell . There's no justification. (Wisdom is justified by her deeds) I want to be a true Christian. Nah I just want to be real.. i don't want to be a hypocrite....the fire is there. I know I love the Lord. I just don't know who I am anymore.. or how to be righteous...and live for the Lord...i have the fire in me though...the passion to live for the Lord is there..i read my bible sometimes though some of the stuff in there is too much for me to comprehend. And I forget a lot. I don't pray much. I never really lived that Christian lifestyle. You know. But I always claimed that I love God. Though my actions never really showed it....and I guess I'm starting to wake up and see that I'm not living right. I guess my question is how does one become righteous or live truly for the Lord?

Well, Jennifer, faith is more than belief for us, 2000 years after Christ ; our belief is expressed in our commitment. But everything takes time. You just keep meditating the way you're doing now, and commit yourself to any little actions that occur to you. Our paths to holiness are mostly through the humdrum, mostly the unglamorous humdrum trials that nevertheless vary from smaller trials to homelessness and beyond. Nobody commits themselves to something they don't believe in. That was what Jesus saw in the scribes and Pharisees : they talked a life of piety, but it was transparently empty of a genuine commitment instead being all about appearances.

But developing your prayer life is essential. It may be a little asceticism would help, mortification, denying yourself little things from time to time - like something nice to eat, when you fancy it. God seems impressed at our intention, even though we (I) often weaken.

 

[Symph]

Well, Jennifer, faith is more than belief for us, 2000 years after Christ ; our belief is expressed in our commitment. But everything takes time. You just keep meditating the way you're doing now, and commit yourself to any little actions that occur to you. Our paths to holiness are mostly through the humdrum, mostly the unglamorous humdrum trials that nevertheless vary from smaller trials to homelessness and beyond. Nobody commits themselves to something they don't believe in. That was what Jesus saw in the scribes and Pharisees : they talked a life of piety, but it was transparently empty of a genuine commitment instead being all about appearances.

But developing your prayer life is essential. It may be a little asceticism would help, mortification, denying yourself little things from time to time - like something nice to eat, when you fancy it. God will seems impressed at our intention, even though we (I) often weaken.

Yes exactly! No little effort goes unnoticed, even the smallest act of faith is valuable in God's kingdom.

 

[Jenniferdiana]

Thanks everyone.

 

[ladodgers6]

I know I'm not righteous. But the problem is I don't think I ever will be. I Iived/live a terrible sinful life. Looking back on all my sins I feel disgusted with myself. I feel like I could have done better. I'm so confused with being on the right path. I think it's too late for me. I think I'm going to hell . There's no justification. (Wisdom is justified by her deeds) I want to be a true Christian. Nah I just want to be real.. i don't want to be a hypocrite....the fire is there. I know I love the Lord. I just don't know who I am anymore.. or how to be righteous...and live for the Lord...i have the fire in me though...the passion to live for the Lord is there..i read my bible sometimes though some of the stuff in there is too much for me to comprehend. And I forget a lot. I don't pray much. I never really lived that Christian lifestyle. You know. But I always claimed that I love God. Though my actions never really showed it....and I guess I'm starting to wake up and see that I'm not living right. I guess my question is how does one become righteous or live truly for the Lord?

"The Law is for the proud and the Gospel for the brokenhearted." - Martin Luther

“Ignorance of the distinction between the Law and Gospel is one of the principle sources of all the abuses which corrupt and still corrupt Christianity.” –Theodore Beza.

"When God gives orders and tells us what will happen if we fail to obey those orders perfectly, that is in the category of what the reformers, following the biblical text, called law. When God promises freely, providing for us because of Christ's righteousness the status he demands of us, this is in the category of gospel. It is good news from start to finish. The Bible includes both, and the reformers were agreed that the Scriptures taught clearly that the law, whether Old or New Testament commands, was not eliminated for the believer (those from a Dispensational background may notice a difference here). Nevertheless, they insisted that nothing in this category of law could be a means of justification or acceptance before a holy God ... The law comes, not to reform the sinner nor to show him or her the "narrow way" to life, but to crush the sinner's hopes of escaping God's wrath through personal effort or even cooperation. All of our righteousness must come from someone else-someone who has fulfilled the law's demands. Only after we have been stripped of our "filthy rags" of righteousness (Isa. 64:6)- our fig leaves through which we try in vain to hide our guilt and shame-can we be clothed with Christ's righteousness. First comes the law to proclaim judgment and death, then the gospel to proclaim justification and life. One of the clearest presentations of this motif is found in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. In the sixteenth century, the issue of law and grace was more clearly dealt with than at almost any other time since the apostles."

Modern Reformation Good News: The Gospel for Christians (May/June 2003)

 

[Lee Stuvmen]

I guess my question is how does one become righteous or live truly for the Lord?

Hi.

You ask an honest question. I asked the same thing.

So now ask yourself this;
Do you want to know the truth, or do you prefer convenient human opinion and speculation?



IF you prefer TRUTH,

are you willing discard almost EVERYTHING you have learned from this deceived world, which DOES NOT KNOW TRUTH to teach truth,(although they BELIEVE they do)

and humble your heart to be instructed in truth BY God,

John 14:17
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

and thereby stand worthy before the throne of God?



If your answer is "yes";

It begins by STOPPING LISTENING TO HUMANS(even me), and START listening to God.



It boils down to;

Who did Eve believe?

WHO, do YOU believe?
human rhetoric or God's words.


Romans 4:3
For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Galatians 3:6
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.


James 2:23
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.



Here is the understanding where I was led, and which the world cannot hear, . . . .yet..

Do with it what you will.

I tell you in advance and from experience, it is not an easy thing to be pulled out of this understanding of this world. May God bless!
IDENTIFYING Daniel's 4th Beast ("Little Horn") A.K.A. -Revelation 17's Harlot Babylon

You can contact me from there if need be, depending upon which path you choose

Love,
Lee