Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Today we explore the topics of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These are words that we say a lot and have become desensitized to, so we are going to dig in a bit to make sure we are all on the same page in understanding them.
Righteousness is our standing before God and our relationship with Him. It is not about us – the works we do or who we are as individuals. We are sinners and in need of a Savior (Romans 3:23) so we are not righteous on our own. We need to be cleansed and made new (2 Corinthians 5:17) through faith in Jesus who gives us His righteousness.
Peace, as meant biblically, is the absence of chaos, an individual virtue or state of being that is tranquil or serene. When we are right with God and have accepted Christ as our Savior, we are made righteous and new. And once we are new and filled with peace, we can have peace with God, knowing we are accepted, loved, a part of His heavenly family.
And with both of these, we are filled with joy. Joy is a lasting emotion that comes from our trust in God, a feeling of pleasure and happiness that is dependent upon who Jesus is rather than on who we are or who we used to be.
The Holy Spirit within us gives us all three of these. We have been given the Spirit and are blessed beyond measure. With this new joy we have, we should be actively sharing our faith, our hope in Christ, so that others, too, can experience what we have. That is how we grow the Kingdom of God and help others.
Are you filled with peace to the point of overflowing? Today let’s spend some time in prayer thanking God for all He has done for us. Thank Him for making us righteous and new. Thank Him for filling us with peace and joy. And pray for opportunities to share this with others.
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