Day #9: I'm thankful that God has declared me righteous.
I tend to live with a lot of nagging guilt. I always feel like there's something I should be doing that I'm not. When I take time to relax, I feel lazy because I know that there's something more profitable I could be doing with my time! When I read books and blogs on child-rearing, I feel like I'm doing a bad job of mothering and am somehow not correctly fostering my son's spiritual, mental, and physical growth. (Yes, I realize he's only ten months old!) I worry a lot that I've done something to offend other people especially if they seem down or upset!
This is not how God intends me to live! He has set me free (Romans 8:2; Galatians 5:1)! And not only has he already paid for all my sins (1 Corinthians 15:3), he has transferred Christ's righteousness to my account. In God's eyes, I have been declared as righteous as Christ! "To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness" (Romans 4:5). Abraham believed God and "'it was credited to him as righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" (Romans 4:22-25).
Of course, God did not save me so that I could live for myself and sin as much as I want, but he has freed me from guilt! I should live in freedom and "keep in step with the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25). The more I revel in what God has done for me, the less I will sink beneath the crushing weight of sin that is no longer on my shoulders. Christ has taken it away. May that truth set me free!
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