Righteousness

[Jenniferdiana]

Maybe I shouldn't have used the word righteousness. I just wanted to know how I can grow as a Christian....sometimes I feel so pure..sometimes I feel so sinful...

 

[Jenniferdiana]

I just want to grow

 

[ladodgers6]

Well, Jennifer. That's a great question. Once a believer understand how they are justified in Christ. Then and only then can they live to God. Which is the third use of the Law. The commandments are a guide for christian living. Our Faith in Christ worketh through love.

 

[Jenniferdiana]

Well, Jennifer. That's a great question. Once a believer understand how they are justified in Christ. Then and only then can they live to God. Which is the third use of the Law. The commandments are a guide for christian living. Our Faith in Christ worketh through love.

I just want to live a life full of love and joy....i want to love and worship God for the rest of my being...i want to reach my full potential of who I am in Jesus..its my life..but like I said I think it's too late

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I just want to grow

The fact that you recognise your own sinfulness is a sign of healthy growth in grace. People who are not growing in the Lord don't have your consciousness of shortcoming and failure. It is that very sense of shortcoming that causes you to seek God with even more passion. This is why you are permitted to feel the way you do. It is to get you to the feet of Christ at God's throne of grace. The Christian life is not all happy happy clap clap. If some people appear that way and never share their weaknesses and faults, then you can know that there is something in their lives (like pride, jealousy, envy, religiousity) that is hindering their growth in grace. The scripture says that when you are weak, then God is strong in you.

 

[Jenniferdiana]

The fact that you recognise your own sinfulness is a sign of healthy growth in grace. People who are not growing in the Lord don't have your consciousness of shortcoming and failure. It is that very sense of shortcoming that causes you to seek God with even more passion. This is why you are permitted to feel the way you do. It is to get you to the feet of Christ at God's throne of grace. The Christian life is not all happy happy clap clap. If some people appear that way and never share their weaknesses and faults, then you can know that there is something in their lives (like pride, jealousy, envy, religiousity) that is hindering their growth in grace. The scripture says that when you are weak, then God is strong in you.

Thank you...

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Thank you...

You can be in tears over your shortcomings and failures and your heart can be crying out to God for assurance and comfort, while God and the angels are rejoicing over you. Another person can always be cheerful, without a care in the world, and God could be weeping over him.

 

[ladodgers6]

The fact that you recognise your own sinfulness is a sign of healthy growth in grace. People who are not growing in the Lord don't have your consciousness of shortcoming and failure. It is that very sense of shortcoming that causes you to seek God with even more passion. This is why you are permitted to feel the way you do. It is to get you to the feet of Christ at God's throne of grace. The Christian life is not all happy happy clap clap. If some people appear that way and never share their weaknesses and faults, then you can know that there is something in their lives (like pride, jealousy, envy, religiousity) that is hindering their growth in grace. The scripture says that when you are weak, then God is strong in you.

Wow, Oscar, good stuff!

 

[mukk_in]

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?

No matter our past (I know I'd like to forget it), we're are new creations in Christ. Don't worry about being righteous Jennifer, believe that you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus our Lord. That faith will set you free in Him. God bless .

 

[Anguspure]

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?

What you are not is free from sin.

But if you are in Christ you are nevertheless righteous, not because of what you have done for yourself but because of what he has done for you.

The sin that was yours is now His and really you have no right to concern yourself with it.

Set you mind on the good things of the Spirit and do not concern yourself with the things of the flesh.

 

[GirdYourLoins]

I just want to live a life full of love and joy....i want to love and worship God for the rest of my being...i want to reach my full potential of who I am in Jesus..its my life..but like I said I think it's too late

John 13:1-17

You need to understand your sin in context. We are all sinners but should be striving to live for Christ. If you are saved you have been washed but will still sin and pick up dirt which Jesus washes off your feet. You are clean even though you need this. If you do not repent and allow Jesus to clean you, you have no part in him. So I suggest you allow Jesus to clean your feet and happily go on your way. He paid the price for your sin past, present and future on the cross.

It sounds to me though that your issue is one of unforgiveness. You need to forgive yourself when you sin and put it behind you. It sounds like you are holding onto it and not forgiving yourself when you sin. I found that the one thing that helped me reduce the amount of sin in my life most was being able to repent, accept Gods forgiveness, forgive myself and put it behind me.

 

[aiki]

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.

Yes. I understand. We aren't to dwell on our sin and shame; we are to "look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith." (He. 12:2) The fundamental goal of every believer is to be "conformed to Christ." (Ro. 8:29) We don't achieve this by focusing on our 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.

What you are describing here is a kind of abiding in Christ. (Jn. 15:4,5) But while we are urged in Scripture to abide in him, we are also commanded to resist, and strive (He. 12:4), and actively forsake sin (1 Thess. 5:22; Ro. 13:14; Ja. 1:21). The two things - abiding and battling sin - are not mutually exclusive things.

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.

Well, the thing is, he's already "taken care of it" on the cross of Calvary. Both the stain of your sin and its source have been dealt with by Christ's sacrificial, atoning death some 2000 years ago. Paul writes all about this in his letter to the Romans (particularly chapter 6). I'd urge you to study this chapter (and the entire letter) and live in its light. Doing so will make a profound difference to your success in overcoming sin.

Romans 6:6-7
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.

 

[aiki]

I really really wish I knew what God really thinks of me.

1 John 4:9-10
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Romans 5:8
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:20
20...But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

I feel like I really messed up this time. I'm scared and there's no one to talk to about this. I dont have any friends..but..I don't want anyone to pity me or feel sorry for me. I just want to know why this is happening to me.. it makes me feel like i'm a really bad person.

But you are a bad person - just like the rest of us. "There is none righteous, no, not one," the Bible says. This is why you so desperately need a Saviour and the forgiveness he obtained for you by his sacrifice of himself on your behalf on the cross. Your heart is just like the heart of every other person: "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." (Jer. 17:9) Walking with God begins with admitting this and forsaking your own efforts to be a good person. You don't have it in you to be the person God wants you to be. None of us do. You need the Holy Spirit to transform you. As you surrender to his work within you, depending upon him all the time to make you who God has called you to be, then it is the sin that binds you will fall away.

Because he is my only hope ..and everything he is what makes me who I am in Jesus..i feel like death right now..why am I being punished? Why do I feel so much pain and heartache? How can I fix this?

Isaiah 55:7
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

1 John 1:8-9
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Philippians 3:13-14
13 ... one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

[Jenniferdiana]

I am very dependant of God. He is all i ever depend on. I just slipped away somehow. I did some terrible things which im not proud of. I know I should forgive myself but it's hard sometimes especially when you know youre being punished by God. And i am being punished. You just dont know. And It just breaks my heart.

 

[FanthatSpark]

Lets simplify doubt... Imagine a titlewave and you are an ant . The wave represents grace/light/love the ant is you.

The doubt is a mind loop caused by self. You refuse to forgive self for God has done so already. We could compare our love of sin in a past for sin was our first love. Yet, that is an unhealthy state of mind my friend. For us, our minds must be retrained to live in the moment for the past is forgotten by God.

Take some time and read how much God loves you and soak that up for a season (there is no time measurement to your or my season) and cry with God at his unfathomable love for us to the very id of our minds. Later in your season fix your mind with God to think in love, read scripture in love, pray in love.

There is a time for all things under the sun ... For you, it is time to be loved without a doubt by a God that is on the edge of His throne saying listen to this post and cry with God at our iniquity and lets begin to heal. Move out of selfs way to receive that love . A song...

In hopes this is real enough in the language of love.

 

[aiki]

I know I should forgive myself but it's hard sometimes especially when you know youre being punished by God. And i am being punished. You just dont know. And It just breaks my heart.

Why do you think God is punishing you? When a child touches a hot stove element and gets burned, is the pain of the burn a punishment of its father? I don't see how that could be so.

I have sinned and suffered as a consequence. Sin often takes us farther than we wanted to go and costs us more than we wanted to pay. Sin and suffering go together - though not always at the very same time. This is, in part, why God warns us not to sin.

 

[paul becke]

I am very dependant of God. He is all i ever depend on. I just slipped away somehow. I did some terrible things which im not proud of. I know I should forgive myself but it's hard sometimes especially when you know youre being punished by God. And i am being punished. You just dont know. And It just breaks my heart.

I wonder if you are right to be so sure that you are being punished by God for your sins, Jennifer ? Psalm 99 (100) certainly suggests the possibility, as the Psalmist wrote :

Among his priests were Aaron and Moses,
among those who invoked his name was Samuel
They invoked the Lord and he answered.

To them He spoke in the pillar of cloud.
They did his will ; they kept the law,
which He, the Lord, had given.

O Lord our God, you answered them.
For them you were a God who forgives ;
yet you punished all their offences.

But your punishment may have ended long ago, your suffering now being mostly redemptive - and largely for the sake of others. 'Whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth.'

I do find it interesting though that even when the Psalmist is entreating God to save him from the snares and machinations of the many cruel and malign enemies persecuting him, he asks God to forgive him for his own sinfulness at the same time. Perhaps, you should ask God to help you to forgive yourself.

 

[Jenniferdiana]

I wonder if you are right to be so sure that you are being punished by God for your sins, Jennifer ? Psalm 99 (100) certainly suggests the possibility, as the Psalmist wrote :

Among his priests were Aaron and Moses,
among those who invoked his name was Samuel
They invoked the Lord and he answered.

To them He spoke in the pillar of cloud.
They did his will ; they kept the law,
which He, the Lord, had given.

O Lord our God, you answered them.
For them you were a God who forgives ;
yet you punished all their offences.

But your punishment may have ended long ago, your suffering now being mostly redemptive - and largely for the sake of others. 'Whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth.'

I do find it interesting though that even when the Psalmist is entreating God to save him from the snares and machinations of the many cruel and malign enemies persecuting him, he asks God to forgive him for his own sinfulness at the same time. Perhaps, you should ask God to help you to forgive yourself.

Whether I'm being punish by him... It breaks my heart. And hurts like hell..

 

[paul becke]

I know ! I wonder if you would believe the lengths God has gone to, both to punish me - and also just try me, even when, on occasions, he has reassured me that He was actually pleased with me !

Your joy, in reward for your suffering, will surely not be far away. I hear what you're saying, but you know that a broken spirit is more precious to God than anything. Take heart. You'll surely be the beneficiary of many prayers of kind people on this forum to ease your pain.

 

[Jenniferdiana]

Ok