For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (ESV)

Several weeks ago, when Pastor Cody preached, he told the story of his friend. The one who all Cody had to say to get him to do something were the words, “Bet you won’t.” This story had me giggling for a while because I can relate to that friend somewhat. As far back as I can remember, if someone told me not to do something, I wanted to immediately go out and do it – just to prove that I could do it or should be allowed to do it. Justice is very high on my list of needs. If something seems unfair, I’m all over it.  

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When I was researching in the Blue Letter Bible app, I came across this cool commentary on the word “righteous.” William Barclay explains the meaning of this ancient Greek word dikaioo, which means I justify, and is the root of dikaioun (righteousness): “All verbs in Greek which end in oo…always mean to treat, or account or reckon a person as something. If God justifies a sinner, it does not mean that he finds reasons to prove that he was right – far from it. It does not even mean, at this point, that he makes the sinner a good man. It means that God treats the sinner as if he had not been a sinner at all.”  

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All he calls us to do is to have faith (believe), and then we are considered one who was not a sinner at all. “I’m just a sinner saved by grace,” is actually inaccurate -- God doesn’t see you as a sinner – he sees you as a justified saint (righteous), simply because you believed.  

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If you want to be justified at work – proven to be good – you have to do something (work hard, make more sales, be better than the other guy). To be justified as innocent of a crime, you have to prove that you didn’t do said crime. In other religions, to be justified to be saved, you have to do good works. But the beautiful thing about Christianity is that all you have to do is have faith – believe. That’s crazy! All the Maker of the heavens and the earth requires of me to be considered righteous (which in my human flesh I am so far from) is to believe in him and accept the gift that he freely offers.

I think sometimes we are like Pastor Cody, saying to God, “Bet you won’t,” expecting that he won’t come through, and we’re almost daring him to. The beautiful thing is we don’t have to put God to the test like that.  

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“Bet you won’t” love me when I fail – God loves you even in failure. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).

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“Bet you won’t” hear me when I need you most – God hears you always. “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer” (1 Pet. 3:12a).

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“Bet you won’t” answer this prayer – God answers all prayers – just maybe not how you had hoped or expected. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8).

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You see friend, God loves us apart from who we are and what we’ve done because of who Christ is and what he did. Knowing that, share freely the love of God and the good news of his saving grace – and if you need a little push, here’s my challenge: “Bet you won’t.”

Father God, thank you! We love you. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.