Reign in Righteousness

 

Reign in Righteousness

 

Romans 5:17

For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

 

We all have known what it is like to be identified with Adam.  We all have been partakers of that human nature whereby we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The reality is that most of us, who are Christians, even though we are saved, still primarily identify with our old Adamic nature.  Why is that?  I think inwardly we sense the presence and change of the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in our hearts, but outwardly we are still struggling with sin issues.  Many of us still struggle with condemnation because of our sin.  Sin didn’t just up and leave us just because we accepted Christ into our hearts or because we were filled with the Holy Spirit.  The infusion of God’s life into us brought to us an abundance of grace and it brought to us the gift of His righteousness.  The acceptance by faith of Christ into our lives brought to us a much greater destiny and purpose than we had ever known in the world of sin and death.  We struggle with who we are in Christ because of what we still see on the outside as the old us.

If I were to come to you today and say that our research has found that you are the long lost heir to the throne of another country.  It is definite; there is no question about it.  You are the prince or princess and you need to come to our country and prepare for learning how to rule.   What would be your reaction?  “Me! You’ve got to be kidding. There is no way I could be a king or Queen, I am just a mechanic, or housewife, or a whatever.”  You see there is no way we could, at this moment, successfully step into the place of leadership and rule in that country, even though we are the rightful heirs.  Why?  It is because we don’t have the mentality of a king or queen.  We still have the mentality of what we have been.  Now even though we don’t feel like royalty and we often don’t act like a royalty, doesn’t mean that we aren’t.  Perhaps it is easier to see that, in order for us to assume our new role as a heir in this country, there needs to take place in us a whole new way of thinking and living.  In order for us to be fit to rule we need to be set under tutors and learn the discipline and the perspective of royalty.  We need our minds and hearts transformed to think like a prince or princess.  At first, we might think this will be great.  I’ll have all these servants to wait on me and I’ll have everything I want.  The reality is, that when we get there we begin to learn the life of ruling and reigning isn’t about serving one’s self, it is about how to best serve others.  It is about self-sacrifice and acting on behalf of what will best benefit those that we are to reign over.  Jesus was the King of Kings, but did He come to do what was best for Him or what was best for us? As heavenly royals, and I speak this in the male and female gender, we need to be preparing to reign.  What we have been given, both grace and righteousness, is a gift.  We didn’t earn them and we certainly didn’t deserve them, but they are ours for simply reaching out in faith, believing and receiving them.

Now if I come to tell you and convince you that you really are a heir to the throne, but if you refuse your position and responsibility, where does that leave you?  If you just continue on, being whatever you were before, how could you ever be fit to reign or assume your God given position?  You can see why we have to come into a totally different mind set and way of thinking? This is where most of us are today.  We are still thinking and living in what we were rather than in who we are.  You are “the righteousness of God in Christ.”  With that gift and calling comes a responsibility on our part to begin to respond to our new King and His authority.  We have to learn the ways and become proficient in the culture of this New Kingdom, not our old one.  That has to be left behind as our mind and thinking are transformed and changed to think like our King.

You and I are called to be “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”(1Peter 2:9).  Isaiah 32:1 says, “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.”  In order for us to begin to prepare to come into our calling and destiny we have to get a vision and revelation of what the apostle Paul taught us in Romans 6: 1-7, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound, God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”  We have to get rid of that old mentality that only sees ourselves as defeated sinners.  Catch the vision and revelation of your calling and who you are in Christ.  Start learning to live and to think like a prince or princess of the Most High God.  There is no higher kingdom to which we could be called.  Accept and pursue the discipline that will train you up to receive the high calling to which you have been purposed.  We are called to reign in righteousness even as the One we follow is righteous.  Start to think and live as the prince or princess of God that you are.

Blessings,

#kent

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