Righteousness: the Operating System of God’s Kingdom

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. That means God rules in righteousness. That also means what is righteous is what is pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God. Thus, righteousness is right standing with God. We cannot stand before God if we are not righteous. We cannot also represent God if we are not righteous. God alone is right, good and true. He is the only determiner, definer and demonstrator of what is right. Something is only right because God makes it so. Therefore, we cannot seek the Kingdom of God without seeking His Righteousness. His Righteousness is His Way of being and doing right. That means He determines how we become righteous and what deeds are righteous.

The sin of Adam and Eve is that they ate from the tree of death after listening to the voice of the devil. Thus, they gained the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, they now determined what was good and evil without God. We cannot be righteous outside of God. Ask atheists; the foundation of good and evil collapses when God is taken out of the equation. Without the presence of God, we cannot even differentiate between good and evil anymore. Nothing is inherently right without God. If God says go and you stay, you have faulted. He is the Judge of All, and He judges what is right rightly because He alone has the right to determine what is right.

The Nature of Righteousness

Righteousness is first of all a nature. You don’t do to become. You become, then you do. You can never do righteous deeds if you are not righteous. Righteousness is what is pleasing in the sight of God. That means God alone gets to determine what is good and what is evil. However, we were not able to live fully according to His Law. Therefore, we couldn’t stand before Him blameless. The Law was only to show us that we will never achieve righteousness by what we do. Jesus became our substitute in this regard. He is the Righteousness of God. Therefore, if we believe in Him and accept His Life, which is a righteous life, we gain access to the presence of God. By this same access, we are able to live the life of righteousness God has fashioned for us.

This is why Righteousness comes first in the order; Righteousness, Peace, Joy in the Holy Ghost. Righteousness is when we accept the Lordship of God. This means we give Him the full right to rule our lives and be the one to determine how we live. You cannot claim to be in the Kingdom if you are living according to your own understanding. We ought to seek first His Kingdom and Righteousness. Righteousness is the operating system of the Kingdom of God. It is His government and constitution. The nature of righteousness then flows into our words, works and ways.

Words, Works & Ways

Your input determines your output, in computer language. You cannot say you are righteous when you do not bear any fruits of righteousness. Yes, righteous is who you are. Righteousness will naturally flow into what you do. What you do cannot make you righteous but you being righteous will flow into what you do. It’s that simple! Feeding a child does not make you a mother but a mother feeds her child. Being a mother is who you are and it will naturally flow into what you do. Therefore, you are making excuses when we don’t see your righteous works. The very first “output” we will see is your words. The Righteousness of God is the Word of God. If you have the Righteousness of God, you will speak the words of God.

There are works God has predestined for us to walk in. These works are righteous, for they please the LORD. This is God’s way of doing right. Because we have the Spirit of God within us, we are able to perform the Kingdom duties given unto us. Wherever the Kingdom of God is, the Righteousness of God is established there. Our ways refer to how we do things as our works refer to what we do. How we do things is as important as what we do. The Righteousness of God makes sure that we don’t try to use evil to achieve good. Don’t try to help God by giving birth to Ishmael. God has His Way of doing things, and righteousness demands that we follow that particular way.