Misconception of Righteousnes

Many see righteousness as doing all the right things to be accepted by God, obeying the law declared in His Word. Making little or no mistakes in your walk with God. Many people try to strive for righteousness continuing to believe if they do right, they will be made right. Little do they know this perception of righteousness is wrong.

In actuality righteousness is a gift, just like God’s grace and mercy is a gift. And the only merit for righteousness is faith. 

We are not made right simply by obeying God’s law – it’s mere dead works–you can do all the right things and still be unrighteous at heart because all of us, every single one of us were born into sin. 

For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. (‭Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ NLT)

In addition …

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. (‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭19-20‬ NLT)

Everyone has sinned before God and everyone deserves punishment..but we serve a righteous God that took the punishment for us through the crucifixion of His son. For we are not made righteous alone, but we are made righteous in Christ. 

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. (‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭22-24‬ NLT)

Faith is the only answer to how to become righteousness. Not in our deeds but in our belief. GOD makes us right through faith. 

This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ NLT)

This is not just a change in actions, but being righteous is having a renewed heart, mind, and spirit working together to serve God. 

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. (‭Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭29‬ NLT)

Even with all this being said, you cannot believe in your righteousness and not walk in it…

For the scripture says 
Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. (‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭31‬ NLT)

So here’s how it works. 
Have faith that God has made you RIGHTEOUS THROUGH FAITH. It’s not something that you earned our achieved. Once you realize this great privilege God has given us you can start to walk in righteousness as a child of God. And in order to continue to establish yourself in righteousness you much seek a loving, desire filled, and committed relationship with God. Salvation isn’t it, you can’t give your life to Christ and just claim righteousness as easy as that…but in order to become established in righteousness you must gain a genuine relationship with God.