Righteousness

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

This is an astounding verse. The Lord Jesus Christ is the sinless Son of God, the personification of perfection. Yet God made Him to be sin for our sakes.

We are sinners by default. We deserve God's wrath for eternity. Yet the eternal Lord bore Father God's wrath upon the cross, so we don't have to.

Not only did Jesus become sin for us, but if we trust in Him, we can become the righteousness of God. As Habakkuk said, the righteous shall live by faith. We need to trust in Christ to make us righteous.

Many people vainly hope and assume that God can simply let them off with no consequences for their iniquities. It took Jesus's broken body and shed blood to deliver us from the condemnation we deserve. There's no other way for us to be acquitted of our wrongdoing.

'God, please forgive our sins, and make us righteous through faith in the Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen'.

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