Righteousness

Righteousness – The Key to a Successful Christian Life The bible describes in Genesis chapter 2 how that God formed Adam and gave him rule and management over everything which He (God) had made. The bible told us in that same chapter how that God communicated with Adam directly and gave him charge to name all the animals. Adam could speak to God directly, and this is something really profound. Adam could speak with the God of the heaven and the earth, the one who created the whole universe. Take a moment and think about this, Adam could speak to God without having any sense of inferiority or guilt. Adam, a creature made from the dust, could openly communicate with His creator who made all things. Adam could only stand before God without any guilt or inferiority because he was righteous in the eyes of God.   However, after the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, Adam and his wife Eve lost their right standing before God. The bible explained that when they ate of the forbidden fruit, their eyes were open, and they saw that they were naked. Now the bible explained that in the cool of the day, the voice of the Lord came into the garden to have fellowship with Adam and his wife Eve. Remember that before they ate of the forbidden fruit, they were able to stand talk back to the voice of God that was speaking to them. But after they had eaten from the forbidden fruit, they hid themselves, and they were ashamed to talk to God. Why were they ashamed to talk to God after the fall? This has to do with the topic of righteousness. This has all to do with who God is. The bible calls him the Light in whom there is no shadow of darkness at all. When Adam and Eve sinned, they gave entrance to the forces of darkness to enter into the world of men. Man had now received the knowledge of evil, and man’s conscience had become filthy. Remember how God named the tree when He gave Adam the instruction not to eat of the fruit of the tree? Let’s take a look at the scripture closely and see what God instructed Adam and how God called the tree. (Genesis 2:16-17)  16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”   If you read the above text, you will see that God called the tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. With other words, eating from the tree would bring the knowledge of evil to men. A pure conscience was what held Adam and his wife guiltless in the presence of God but the moment that they ate from the fruit, they received the knowledge of evil also and the conscience was defiled. Now they were not able to stand again boldly before God because of the “sin conscience”.   To be continued ……