Build Your Kingdom Life – Part 4

 

Is it speed?

 

Is it strength?

 

Is it agility?

 

 

Embedded in humanity is the desire to succeed. What gift would you choose in order to succeed?

 

In the Kingdom of God, the foundation of the Father’s throne rests on righteousness and justice. On earth, righteousness is one of the last “gifts” to be chosen to “play the game.” In fact, most of us have, or had, some kind of aversion to the word “righteousness,” as it was presented in a skewered way. Sure, we would sign up to receive joy and peace, but righteousness? Not so much.

 

 

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary falls short of the glory in its definition, in my opinion. Righteousness is defined according to actions in one explanation, and in another, it points to a good state of being: “free from guilt or sin.” While that’s good, it’s less than appealing to be chosen as a primary “gift” for building or for successful winning.

 

Righteousness, however, is not only the foundation of our Heavenly Father’s throne, but it’s the unfathomably expensive gift of the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and it is a building block of the Kingdom of God (Psalm 89:14; Romans 5:17; Romans 14:17).

 

Listen to this: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (NIV, Romans 14:17). Righteousness is Strong’s G1343 dikaiosyne. It means “in a broad sense: the state of him [him or her] who is as he ought to be. . .; integrity, virtue, purity of life, righteousness, correctness of thinking, feeling or acting” (Blueletterbible.org).

 

Recently, I read a statistic that said 80% of the 60,000 thoughts that a person has each day are negative, and 95% of those thoughts reoccur. The person looking at the data surmised that while most people maintain a positive outlook in their conscious brain, their unconscious mind stores 70% negative information.

 

Let’s look again at the Greek definition of what is right. In order to make the concept more understandable, I prefer to use the term “what is right” in the place of righteousness.

 

 

What is right = correctness (truth) of thinking, feeling, or acting.

 

Imagine with me if all 70% of your unconscious thoughts were correct—based on what is right and true—and if 80% of your 60,000 thoughts per day were uplifting, based on what is right and true.

 

How different would your life look? How much different would the world look if only handfuls of people chose what is right as their “gift” to succeed in life?

 

Think Nobel Prize winners, as an example–and the massive, good change many of them wrought.

 

 

Further, what is right = the state of him (or her) as he (or she) ought to be. When our Heavenly Father created Adam and Eve, they existed in a state of glory. They were pronounced “good” by our Heavenly Father, which is like saying, “They are perfectly good, whole and complete, and there is no fault in them.”

 

Brokenness entered the world rather quickly, and that state of complete wholeness and peace between God and man–which is shalom—shattered. Jesus’ entire earthly life centered around His being and doing what is right so that when He offered His life as a ransom for ours, His gift of righteousness reconciled us with our Heavenly Father and made us right. Because of Jesus’ redemption, we have the opportunity to be in better existence than Adam and Eve before they fell.

 

Let me say that again.

 

Jesus’ redemption—and His gift of what is right to us through Himself—gives us the opportunity. This opportunity is to be in better existence than Adam and Eve were at Creation.

 

On top of this wonderful existence is our being clothed in His glory.

 

Redemption is even better than Creation—which was abundantly outstanding.

 

 

Finally, what is right connects to health and healing. A popular slogan and bumper sticker in the ‘80s was: “God don’t make no junk.” Aside from the poorly executed English wording of the bumper sticker (haha!), the thought attempted to be conveyed, “You’re good because GOD made you that way.”

 

That’s true—our Heavenly Father did make us each good in our being, though we are fallen, and He provided redemption as well. Yet, some parts of our spirit, soul, and/or body don’t seem to work well. The body and its health are definitely impacted by personal perception and choices, diet, and lifestyle. However, many people attend to these areas and still fall short in the health and healing department, even though Jesus paid for it to be made right (Isaiah 53).

 

Listen to this: “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays [wings, KJV]. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves” (NIV, Malachi 4:2).

 

The sun (or light), who is Jesus, of righteousness, breaks out with healing in its wings. In His humanity as a Jewish man who upheld the Law, Jesus wore tassels on his garment or prayer shawl as a reminder of Father’s commands. The Malachi 4 text speaks of the “wings” or “corner (of garment)” emanating from this “sun of righteousness,” which prophetically points to Jesus. Jesus was wearing those tassels, a physical representation of His righteousness when the woman knew she would be healed if she could just touch the hem (tassel) of His garment (Matthew 9:20).

 

What is right is a massively extravagant gift that makes us exceedingly healthy and wealthy in our spirit, soul, and, yes, body. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (KJV, 3 John 1:2).

 

By the grace of God, may your soul embrace the good truth that what is right is exceedingly successful for you—and is given as a gift for your success.

 

Receive it. Keep agreeing. Keep receiving. It grows, fills, and transforms you.

 

 

“Father, thank You for the massively extravagant gift of what is right through the Lord Jesus Christ. I come with an attitude of receptivity. I come to receive Your gift of what is right. I welcome Your work in me through the governance of Your grace to make me as I ought to be—which is complete peace with You, with myself, and with others as You have placed them in my life. I receive Your grace working in me to bring me into symmetry with what is right in the Lord Jesus Christ—where all that is broken in me is made whole and redeemed (put back better than before). I receive Your grace, making my thoughts, feelings, and actions correct based on what is right and true in You. I receive Your grace making me right, as I should be, and clothing me with Your glory, in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”