God wants us to seek His righteousness and not our own righteousness. When we seek our own righteousness, we will always end up feeling miserable because we can never be righteous by our works, no matter how hard we try. That is why our loving Father wants us to remember that righteousness is not right behavior but a person—Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 1:30), and that we have “become the righteousness of God in Him.”
I know of a lady who, before coming to our church, attempted to establish her own righteousness by confessing all her sins to “clean” herself up. But she found that the more she confessed her sins, the more sins she discovered in herself. She became guilt-ridden and miserable. Feeling stressed out and weary of confessing her sins all the time, she eventually left the church she was attending. In fact, she never stepped into another church again for the next 10 years.
One day, someone gave her my message tape entitled You Will Never Lose God’s Everlasting Righteousness Given To You and she started listening to it. Once she learnt that Jesus was the measure of her righteousness and acceptance before God, she began to seek God’s righteousness by seeing Christ as her righteousness. Before long, peace and joy came flooding back into her life.Today, she worships in our church. She testified of how God has supernaturally healed her of a long-term medical condition she had. Even her husband, once balding, found hair sprouting supernaturally! God was adding all these things to her according to His promise—“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
Beloved, seeking God’s righteousness means that you see Jesus as someone who knew no sin but became sin for you, so that He could give you His righteousness and make you the righteousness of God in Him! As you proclaim daily the truth that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, you will see “all these things” (Matthew 6:33) added to you without even asking for them!
"I'M HERE TO TELL YOU" EDITOR'S NOTE
What are "all these things" that God - through Jesus, promised to those who seek first the kingdom? These things He is talking about are the things the world says are important and one must strive for to be successful and satisfied. Cars, clothes, nice big houses, money to go out to fancy places and spend fancy money, and all the rest that we are bombarded with every day. He says these are the things the world goes after but we that know Jesus should not pursue these things, that these things will be added to us when you look to Jesus. Will God give you a big house if you seek Jesus? Maybe. But more importantly, you will be fulfilled with or without that big house. You will be happy and satisfied with what you have because you (really) have it all when you have Jesus. Just One thing is necessary. Only Jesus as your Lord can make you feel fulfilled. For those who have accepted the free gift of salvation from Jesus and know that their sins are gone, past, present and future, they have a happy heart. They do not constantly try to be good and righteous on their own, they rely on the cross of Christ for their righteousness. Nothing on earth can fill the Christ shaped hole in your life - except Jesus. Today, look to Jesus to be you're everything. Ask God in prayer to fill you with His Holy Spirit and have you realize that there's nothing like Jesus.
