Born to be Righteous

The 1969 song Born to be Wild suggests that some people are born into a specific way of life, and that is, according to the song, to be wild. It suggests that the nature of wildness is simply encoded into their being at birth. “It’s in their DNA,” or “They are just wired that way.” For them to be anything different is to suppress the way things were meant to be.

Jesus was born to save the world.
John the Baptist was born to prepare the way for the Messiah, Jesus.
What about you? You were born to _________ ?

Did you know that Adam and Eve were created to live, not to die? Death was never God’s purpose or intention in creation. Yet, the sin of Adam and Eve brought death into the world. Their sin separated them from God, a spiritual death. That is why the Psalmist wrote that no one does good (Psalm 53), or as the Apostle Paul quoted,

There is none righteous, not even one.

—Romans 3:10

In dealing with man’s death relationship (think about that phrase), God intervened to give life. We use words from the Bible like salvation, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification, forgiveness, and others. They are all ultimately linked to life. God wants us to live.

Sadly, the phrase born again has become almost cliché. Yet, when Jesus first told the prominent Jewish teacher Nicodemus that he could not enter the kingdom of God unless he was born again (John 3), He was referring to mankind’s death from God and his need for new life. Jesus was emphasizing God’s intention for man to live...and that is just the beginning.

Reconciliation is the restoration of a friendship relationship. When writing about our reconciliation to God, the Apostle Paul said:

He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

 —2 Corinthians 5:21

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus also spoke of righteousness. He described a standard for righteousness; warned about false righteousness; and spoke of a reward for righteousness while in this world. Yet, the verse quoted above tells us that our reconciliation to God had purpose. We were reborn for righteousness.

In the next chapter of 2 Corinthians Paul described his ministry in Christ: his labors in the Lord and his service in Christ. He was not boasting, but simply describing his ministry of reconciliation. He went on to say that it was accomplished “by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left” (6:7).

Now, there is something else that you should know about righteousness. When explaining the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, Jesus said:

So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous. 

--Matthew 13:49

Jesus later described the final judgment by saying that God, the King, would send unrighteous souls away into eternal punishment, yet the righteous would enter into eternal life.

God wants you to live. Just remember that in your rebirth in Christ, you were born for righteousness. It’s in your spiritual DNA; you’ve been rewired. How can you do anything different?

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

—Ephesians 2:10

Mark Stinnett

April 24, 2022