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By Faith


           And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.” (Deuteronomy 6:25)

          But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:21-24)
          
          So, how carefully are you obeying all of the law before the Lord our God? How is your righteousness on that basis? How about the righteousness of our nation? We all like to think our lives aren’t so bad, or even, are pretty good, but every point of the law? Here’s an easy one – how often do you exceed the speed limit, by even 1 mile per hour? How about those turn signals? Oh, right – those are not listed in the law, we get to slide on those. But how about forgiveness? How about treating the stranger as a neighbor, and not showing favoritism either to the rich or the poor? Technically, it doesn’t matter what law we’re talking about, the Mosaic Law, the Islamic Law, or the American Laws, your own personal/household law … how are you doing? Do you trust that you can fulfill any of those laws? Really? Me, neither.
         That’s why the second passage is so beautiful and so important. Our righteousness doesn’t depend on our general performance. The foundation of our righteousness depends on one thing. Trust, also known as faith. Those are the two choices. We can trust ourselves or we can trust God. This is old news for most of us.
            So here’s the real point of today’s post. We don’t have to keep the Law, or the law, or the law, or the law in order to be counted righteous. We need only to trust God. Yes, that’s old news, too, but have you thought about it recently? Really thought? Have you sat back or stood in awe, wonder, gratitude, or joy?  Have you thanked Him recently?

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