New heavens, new earth
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
We look for NEW HEAVENS.
We look for a NEW EARTH.
In those new heavens, in that new earth there lives RIGHTEOUSNESS!
2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ
Rom 5:17 ... the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:21 ... grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference
Our God, our Savior are righteousness personified.
Pure righteousness.
God.
Jesus.
In the world to come there will only be righteousness. We are made righteous only through CHRIST'S righteousness.
The righteousness of God which is by FAITH of Jesus Christ unto ALL and upon ALL them that believe.
We receive the righteousness of God through FAITH, through believing.
We have to live by faith.
That mysterious thing that we cannot touch, that mysterious thing we cannot prove. That mysterious thing we are called on to have daily in our lives.
Even those who have no faith in God are required to have faith in others. Seriously, there are some people but very few that who never exhibit faith. As children we have faith in our parents until perhaps that is proven elusive- maybe we have parents who do not support us and only allow us to be hurt and abused. As children we tend to have faith in our teachers, again until perhaps a testing of that faith is made and the teacher fails it. We have faith in our friends to be our friends and exhibit qualities of friendships until they betray that friendship. We have faith that others around us will behave appropriately, and sometimes that too is broken. We have to have faith when we marry someone that they love us, yes? If we are marrying for love. That trust can be broken too and the faith we have in another person can waver, even fail altogether. As we go through life and all too often our faith in things and others is exercised and abused we feel scorned by faith and become wary, critical, distrustful. Faith calls for believing when we do NOT see, cannot see, have no control over another, right? If we take away the ability for a spouse to cheat on us- lock them up and give them no access to others- then we are NOT showing faith in them, are we? Our faith means believing that while our spouse is subjected to others and allowed to be out among them that our spouse will not give into temptation to cheat on us. We have to believe in something that is UNSEEN. We have to believe in something that we have NO control over. All too often spouses cheat and when that happens faith in spouses slips away.
We are asked to LIVE by faith in God- unseen.
We are asked to believe that Christ's righteousness will be ours because we cannot be righteous without Him.
We are to live in a world of righteousness- a world filled with the love of our God, but first this old world must pass away. This old world and all the things in it, all the things we tend to hold dear- our material possession, our prestige, our standing- things that in the world to come will be non-existent and yet we form our entire lives around these things.
Life here and now is TEMPORARY to eternity, but we live as if it's all there is, that there is no new heaven and earth to look forward to.
We know that life is temporary in the sense we all live and die while our offspring continue on, and we build our lives so that our offspring can inherit our things, we do this rather than teach our children that all those things are just temporary. We aren't teaching them that death is temporary to eternity, just as life is temporary to eternity.
The things that matter are the heavenly things.
Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Our TREASURES must be laid up in heaven.
Heaven must be our safety deposit box.
Heaven must hold our hearts, our TRUE desires!
If our desires are wrapped up in earthly treasures they are NOT in heaven where they need to be.
Our home is heaven, this is only our temporary home NOT our real home! We can't forget this, we just can't!
By the grace of God, please Lord, all by Your grace! Your righteousness! All through FAITH!
All through YOU!
Love! You!