Everlasting Righteousness.

I remember the scene nearly seven years ago.

I was in a McDonald's in Manhattan Beach, CA.

I had this strong sense of pain and frustration in my life. I was convinced that I had to hold onto God in my life, that I had to make sure that He was there for me based on my feelings.

If I was fearful, if I started to panic, or my mind began to deviate it any way, then I would get fearful, and start trying to get my mind to focus on God once again.

I had no knowledge, no awareness that He is alive, and that He is taking care of all things for me.

At the time, I was reading a book called "What is Faith?"

One passage in the book stood out, however, and informed me that He is caring for me, even when I am not thinking about Him.

I burst into tears, and could not contain the relief which spread out over my mind.

Within seconds, a young Japanese lady saw me, and she asked me if I was alright.

I told her that everything was fine.

Then she shared with me that she had been sitting in the same booth where I was seated, and she had felt a similar peace wash over her, too.

We began talking about God, we talked about His life and peace in our lives.

Then she shared with me about how she was learning about Jesus, and the need to give everything over to Him.

I walked away that day, filled with a sense of relief, I could let everything go.

But then the fears began to seep in again into my life.

What about tomorrow? What will happen then? How do I get through those days?

That nagging upset about tomorrow and the next day, and the need to tame my feelings constantly just kept welling into my mind.

Today, I realize that the answer really does lie in a growing revelation of the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

There really is so much about who He is and what He is doing, what He has done, and what He is committed to keep doing in our lives.

Instead of looking for leaning and leadership from other people, everyone of us has to keep looking at Jesus, and allow Him to transform us from glory to glory.

The very thing that trips up many people rests in staying on what they already know, or relying on what worked yesterday.

Not even two weeks ago, I finally recognized after reading the Word, that He has indeed taken care of everything. I do not have to blindly trust that He is taking me to a good place, as though it may or may not be there.

We do know where we are going. We do know that He has taken care of all things for us. He declares the end from the beginning, and we even have an account of the future prepared for us in Revelation. Recently, I have been learning about the Rapture, and the fact that there is so little proper teaching about our sudden Seizing Up accounts for why so many have no hope.

Over the last few days, too, I have realized that the Righteousness of God is revealed not just in what happened at the Cross, but that His blood cleanses, regardless of my thoughts or feelings on it. The blood of Jesus is real, whether I am thinking about it or not. It does not depend on me. The blood is cleansing more deeply than my understanding.

Another vision appeared in my mind. From the Cross, the blood of Jesus extends backwards to the beginning of time, then forward into eternity. In fact, time ends up hitting a wall, and I then see the blood of Jesus circling around, covering all things, since Jesus holds all things together in Himself.

Before there is a future, He has held the future. He is greater than all of time, and His redemption covers everything.

Furthemore, if there is any pain or hurt in our lives, the answer is not to talk to someone else about it. The answer is never to seek more comfort or to retreat to comfort measures.  The more that we seek a revelation of the Lord Jesus and His grace and peace, the more that His peace abounds in our lives.

His righteousness is an everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9: 24). The temporal aspect is meaningless. It no longer matters. It is foolish, insensate to ask "what about tomorrow?" when that question was already answered at the Cross.

Once again,  the Cross is more than one event. It is the eternal recognition that all things have been paid for, taken care of, an everlasting covenant in which God our Father has declared: "I will be a god to you (Hebrews 8: 10-12).

This issue of everlasting rightouesness is crucial. I knew that I was the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21), yet I kept tying God's presence in my life to how I felt.

I never saw Him as alive and moving in my life. I kept basing His presence in my life based on my performance, or my thoughts and feelings.

Boy, was I wrong. I knew about righteousness, but the abundance of grace part is now stepping into play:

"15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For 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." (Romans 5: 15-17)

Receiving, we keep on receiving the abundance of grace as well as the gift of righteousness, and thust we reign in life. The part about Jesus as my life, too - that part no one had yet explained to me. I still thought that I was on my own in this life, to create everything on my own.

Today, I now know better!

I am not just the righteousness of God in Christ, but this righteousness is eternal, regardless of my status, my feelings, or my performance.