The Fruit of Righteousness

Proverbs 11:30 – “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.”

If you read through Proverbs you will find a lot written about the righteous and righteousness, but in chapters 11 and 12 you will find the ‘motherload’.

The word for righteous in the Hebrew means innocent or just. It refers to a person who is living their life according to God’s standards.

Now, you and I know that trying to live a righteous life is impossible. We are all too broken and messed up, just like the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?” While we can all relate to that, Paul doesn’t leave us hanging. He answers his on question in the next verse. “I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord.” Righteousness is a gift that is given to us when by faith we are covered with the blood of Jesus. And if Jesus makes you righteous, that’s as righteous as you can get!

So, do you understand? All these gifts, blessings, and promises that God declares for the righteous in Proverbs is already ours in Christ!

Stop right now and read Proverbs chapters 11 and 12 and look at all that God has done for us in Christ. It’s Amazing!

In Proverbs 12:5 God says ‘The thoughts of the righteous are just.” How does that work? I’m righteous in Christ but my thoughts are not always just…but they could be if I simply used another gift God has given all of us that I talked about a few days ago. I’m talking about I Corinthians 2:16, ‘…But we have the mind of Christ.’

Maybe we were powerless to control our thoughts before we knew Christ, but now we have the mind of Christ. We can say NO to those unrighteous thoughts when they pop into our minds. We just need to remember to power God has given us.

Not only has God given us the gift of righteousness through Jesus, He has also given us the ability to live in a way to reveal the righteousness of Christ, both inside and out!

If you are a follower of Jesus these gifts are already yours!

God is so good!