Verse of the Day 8/1

Verse of the Day 8/1

Romans 4:4-5 When people work, they earn wages. It can???t be considered a free gift, because they earned it.??^5??But no one earns God???s righteousness. It can only be transferred when we no longer rely on our own works, but believe in the one who powerfully declares the ungodly to be righteous^[a]in his eyes. It is faith that transfers God???s righteousness into your account!?????? The Passion Translation (TPT)

We've been considering the Christian "walk" and how it involves trusting in God and following Him along the road in life.

In our society with electronic banking, we have a pretty good idea of what transfers are.?? Many of us pay bills with auto-pay.?? Our bills are automatically paid on time by our bank when they receive the bill from our credit card company or other creditors.?? This keeps us in right standing with them and there aren't any problems.?? However, if our account runs short, the payment isn't made and we may have to pay a fine or worse.

Those who are on the pilgrim's progress are following God, following Jesus by faith.?? That person at some point in their lives had to ask the question "how can I be made right with 'god"??? That is what the word "righteous means", to be on right standing with God.?? Sin has made us come up short but God makes the transfer, Jesus paid the price so that we may be in right standing, our account up to date.

J. Gresham Machen writes, "Justification by faith is an answer to the greatest personal question ever asked by a human soul: ???How shall I be right with God?  How do I stand in God???s sight?  With what favor does he look upon me????  There are those, I admit, who never raise that question.  There are those who are concerned with the question of their standing before men but never with the question of their standing before God.  There are those who are interested in what ???people say??? but not in the question of what God says.  Such men, however, are not those who move the world.  They are apt to go with the current.  They are apt to do as others do.  They are not the heroes who change the destinies of the race.  The beginning of true nobility comes when a man ceases to be interested in the judgment of men and becomes interested in the judgment of God.???   God Transcendent (Edinburgh, 1982), pages 89-90.    What is the state of your standing before God today?  Faith and righteousness go all the way back to the book of Genesis where Abraham believed God and it was credited (transferred) to him as righteousness.    

Romans 4:3??New King James Version (NKJV)

^3??For what does the Scripture say??????Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.???

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Romans 4:5-8??New King James Version (NKJV)

David Celebrates the Same Truth

^5??But to him who??does not work but believes on Him who justifies??the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,??^6??just as David also??describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

^7?????Blessed??are those??whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
^8??Blessed??is the??man to whom the??Lord??shall not impute sin.???