We were created to be the children of God. It only makes sense that we live in accord with Him and stay ready to follow his divine instructions. Our Creator is himself a Spirit and He is pure, infinite, self-determining, all-intelligent and our rational moral standard. In short He is righteousness forever And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Ex 3:14 (KJV) All a human can ever have is an impression of who God is. This is because He is made up of some attributes that are totally foreign to humans. We have no experience with eternity, omniscience, "unchangeablity" or self-existence. God also has some characteristics that we can relate to like love, righteousness, wisdom, or justice. We always understand God better if we serve His Son. Jesus is the exact image of his Father. Because the Spirit of God lives inside of us, all the Trinity can become very real to us. It is still impossible to explain God but a Christian can feel Him deep in their soul. Remember that God does not simply represent love, etc, but He is these things.
Every human must learn that righteousness is a method of living which aligns itself with the nature of God. Because Christians seek to be like God for eternity, we should study the Old Testament to learn about the righteous character of our Creator. The best example for learning about God’s thinking is the way that He deals with Israel. The Jewish leaders tell us that when God created their nation He started with Abraham. Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites… to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous: Neh 9:7-8 (KJV) We learn that God always follows through on his promises. This makes our learning His promises imperative if we plan to live with Him someday. Then as we live a godly life it will become evident to us that there are things we also do, because we must.
After Abraham died in the land of Canaan, his sons moved the family into Egypt. They became slaves until God said it was time to return to the land He had promised. And Samuel said unto the people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers. 1 Sam 12:6-7 (KJV) In spite of the people’s unrighteousness, God fulfilled every promise. It is interesting that when they were trying to leave even the Egyptians realized that God was righteous. And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Ex 9:27 (KJV) When the Jews were in big trouble they also would cry out to God knowing He was righteous. O Lord, God of Israel, you are just. We come before you in our guilt as nothing but an escaped remnant, though in such a condition none of us can stand in your presence.” Ezra 9:15 (NLT) To be just is to be righteous.
During the Babylonian captivity, a few Jews began to cry out to the righteous God for mercy. All this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. Dan 9:13-14 (KJV) The Jews knew that God allows evil but He will eventually judge it because He mustThe Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. Psalms 145:17-19 (KJV) God saves because He must.
Righteousness made a huge change, as far as humans are concerned, when the Son of God came to live and die on this earth. No longer do we have the burden of keeping the law. The New Testament tells us; For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right (righteous) in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Romans 3:25-26 (NLT) Now we are allowed to live under the righteousness of Jesus. What a relief. God is also grandfathering in all the people that served him before Jesus came into this world. Whether a person lived in the old days or in this modern world the righteousness of God compels Him to give us a way of salvation.
Although righteousness is a free gift we are responsible to accept its ways for our life and then we must yield to the righteous leading of the Spirit. The Scripture plainly says we have a choice of how we want to live our lives. Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. Romans 6:16-18 (NLT) It cannot be any clearer, we must chose to live in righteousness in order to be saved. We should understand that we are not earning anything with our righteous living but simply obeying the Word of God to us. It seems that the Devil has confused people on this subject throughout history. May the Spirit make righteousness real to each of us as we listen to His voice.
The Spirit speaks to us in many different ways but the main way is through the Scriptures. You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Tim 3:15-17 (NLT) Here we see that it is the Scriptures can give us wisdom, salvation, truth, conviction, and teaches about righteousness. Everyone can find the Scriptures in this modern day because the Bible is on phones and computers around the world. Even without computers they are aware of God. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:19-20 (NLT)
Unfortunately, many church people today do not study their Bible. Some have said that if they don’t learn what God requires then He will not hold them responsible for their ignorance. That is very bad thinking because the Spirit has spoken to every heart on earth and there is only WILLFUL ignorance of spiritual things and that is sin. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17 (KJV) The reason we serve the Lord is to please Him. But righteousness is its own reward and someday we will fully realize the wonder of living a righteous life. And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.1 John 2:28-29 (NLT) Our lives should be all about becoming a child of God and we MUST be like Him. 
