Romans 4:5 - And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

How do you know that what you are doing in this life is good and right? How do you determine whether something is moral or not? Is there a standard righteousness to which all people are called to, or can we as human beings define righteousness on our own terms? Throughout history humanity has come up with all kinds of differing views on what is right and wrong, and that continues into today. As cultures shift, new standards are put into place of whether you are living a righteous life or not, and judgements are made against those who don’t measure up.

The problem is that no human definition of righteousness is going to be perfect or universal. When we define right and wrong we do it from our limited perspectives and we allow our own wants and desires to guide our definitions of good and evil. No matter how hard we try, our man-made righteousness will always be up for debate, and therefore it can be replaced by anyone who has the loudest voice or is the most persuasive.

Wherever we find our definition of righteousness, that is the measurement to which we are all held, and we will be judged and possibly punished for not satisfying those requirements. As Christians, we know that right and wrong is not defined by us, but by an outside force. We recognize that our defined standards are inherently weak and unsatisfactory for our lives. We know that a standard has to come from outside of ourselves. We believe that God is the one who has determined and defined these things.

This means we also understand that because this is true, he also has a standard to which we are to conduct our lives. Unfortunately we all fall short of this, which is why we are referred to as “ungodly”. We are far from God, not knowing our right hand from our left, which makes righteousness impossible before God. It is for this reason that we cannot ever earn justification or righteousness by simply doing the right things.

It is not our works that save us, but our belief in the God who does. Doing good things cannot make you righteous today because only God can restore a person to a right relationship with himself. This is why we live by faith, looking to God to tell us how to live and how to conduct ourselves in this world. He defines what is right, and he alone makes us right before him.

As you think about how you will live today, don’t make the right choices because you are trying to earn redemption from the Lord. If you have faith in Christ, you have already been redeemed and there is nothing more that you can add to what Jesus has already done. Do good because God is worthy of it, and trust that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. By faith in Christ you no longer walk as an ungodly person with no guidance, but you walk today as one who has been made godly in his sight, receiving the righteousness of Christ as your own.