Today's encouragement comes from Job 9:1 & 2, which says this:
"Then Job answered and said: 'Truly I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God?' "Job's question here (above) is very important. After all, just *how* can a hu-man being, conceived in original sin and always being affected by that sinful nature, actually "be righteous before God"? This is a big problem, since God Himself is totally righteous and holy, and nothing short of absolute sinless perfection will, can, or should satisfy Him.
Nothing we could ever do or perform would ever give us this righteousness before God. No amount of religion, prayers, or effort would or could suffice. A sinful person gets righteous before God when he/she realizes that Jesus alone is his/her righteousness. Christ is apprehended by faith. Therefore, a person is "righteous before God" through the sovereign imputation of Jesus’ righteousness to a dead soul—all received (on our part), by faith.
[Puritan quote of the day: "A Christian may come to lead a comfortable life, even a heaven upon earth, be the times what they will: by Christian content-ment.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Art of Divine Contentment"]
