Value the Treasure of Righteousness – August 9, 2022

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6

Value the Treasure of Righteousness

The reward is what often makes the cost worth it. A diet and exercise regimen is rewarded with better health. Years of study and tens of thousands of dollars spent on education are rewarded with a satisfying and well-paying career. The struggle to bring young children to worship or have devotions at home is rewarded when those children show their childlike faith in Jesus in their words and actions.

Abram paid a high price to follow the Lord. He left home and traveled to an unknown land when God told him to. He lived in tents, never having a permanent home of his own. When God promised that he would have a son in his old age and that the Savior of the world would be one of his descendants, he set aside his reason, and he believed.

For the price he paid, he got nothing, at least from a human perspective. But there was a treasure that no one could see. “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

Righteousness is being right with God. It is a life that is in line with what God says is right. Without righteousness, we can’t go to heaven. We can’t even approach God because we aren’t right with him.

God credited Abram with righteousness. He gave it to him. He deposited righteousness—perfection—into Abram’s spiritual account. Not because he left his home and family behind. Not because he was willing to live in tents. But because God put faith in his heart to believe his promises—to believe that he would have a son, to believe that God would send a Savior through his descendants. Through faith Abram was counted as right with God.

Because God credited Abram with righteousness, Abram could see beyond what he was lacking in this life and live in hope of the heaven.

As God moves your heart to believe his promises—in particular the promise of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus—he credits you with righteousness too. He sees you as perfect and worthy of heaven. Now that’s a treasure, no matter what the cost!

Prayer:
God, strengthen my faith to believe your promises and receive and treasure your righteousness. Amen.