Tag Archives: robe of righteousness

October 12, 2022 · 5:49 AM

The Blessings Of The Righteous

If you ever travel to the Middle East, one of the things you will see lots of are Palm Date trees. It grows very well in desert conditions as well as just about any climate. They refer to it as the tree of life. Without these trees, it would be difficult to sustain life in such harsh conditions. These trees provide shade on a blistering, hot day. The trunk and even the leaves are used as building materials. It’s not uncommon to see the leaves placed in roads where cars drive over them to break them down so they can be used to build with. The fruit stalks are used to make rope and of course, the dates are delicious with many health benefits. Palm trees thrive and help to sustain life wherever they’re planted.

Abraham is one of the great heroes of faith. He trusted what God said and acted on it. When God asked him to leave his family to go to place he’d never been, he packed up and left. When God told him that he would have descendants as many as the stars, he trusted God at His word. When God asked him to sacrifice his only son, the only way to fulfill His promise, he bound his son and took out his knife. Because he believed God, Genesis 15:6 tells us he was counted as righteous. Not only are we counted as righteous when we believe, we are now given a robe of righteousness when we believe in Jesus. That means you and I are entitled to the benefits of the righteous.

Psalm 92:12 says, “The righteous will flourish like the date palm [long-lived, upright and useful]; They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic and stable]” (AMP). Wherever God has you planted right now, you have the ability to flourish, be useful and bring life. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what season of life you’re in or who is around you. God will bless you so that you can withstand the conditions and produce fruit. We can’t look at where God has us and use that as an excuse for not bearing fruit or being useful because He has given you the blessings of the righteous that produce fruit in all seasons. Don’t complain to God about how difficult it is. Instead, ask Him to use you to bring life wherever you go and to use every facet of your life to be a blessing to others.

Photo by Hosni Hannoun:

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June 22, 2022 · 6:02 AM

A Seat At The Table

I’m a pretty self confident person normally. I can be in most situations and feel like I can hold my own. However, when I went to my first executive meeting at a major corporation, I got my confidence wrecked. The guy presenting before me couldn’t defend his projections for the next quarter. The higher ups questioned him and exposed him like nothing I had ever seen. He ended up getting tears in his eyes and shut down in front of everyone. They turned to me and said, “Next!” I don’t remember what I said or how I got through it, but that meeting left a mark. Every time after that, when I walked into a board room with a giant table full of suits sitting at it, I felt like I didn’t belong there. I became quiet and meek. When they asked what I thought about something, inside I wondered why they cared what little, old me cared about.

In 2 Samuel 9, King David asked if any of Jonathan’s relatives were still alive so that he could show kindness to them and to fulfill his promise to his best friend. They told him about Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth who became paralyzed when he was dropped as a child as they were on the run. David asked for him to be brought in. In those days, when a new king took over, they killed everyone who could possibly have a claim to the throne. Mephibosheth would have been second in line and was terrified to meet with David. When he arrived, David gave him all of Saul’s land and invited him to dine at the king’s table. In verse 8 Mephibosheth replied, “Who is your servant, that you should show such kindness to a dead dog like me?” (NLT) He didn’t feel like he belonged at that table, but he began to eat there anyway.

After Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus appeared to him and the other disciples on the Galilean seashore in John 12. He called out to them and when they arrived at shore, He invited them to come and dine. I’m sure Peter didn’t feel like he belonged at the Lord’s Table, but Jesus gently gave him the charge to feed His sheep. Just like Peter and Mephibosheth, we can feel unworthy to sit at the King’s table because of things we’ve done. We can try to minimize our status as King’s kids, but there is a place for you there. Jesus is reminding us like He did Peter that it’s His righteousness that we wear, not our own. No matter what you’ve done, once it’s covered by His blood, it’s gone and there’s a seat waiting for you. Don’t shy away from God’s Table. Don’t feel you’re not enough to be there. You have been raised to new life and have been given a new nature and are clothed with a robe of Christ’s righteousness now. Don’t hold back. Come and dine. You have a seat at the table.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

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January 30, 2020 · 5:40 AM

A Change Of Clothes

I can easily recall several times in my life when my clothes were so filthy I couldn’t wear them inside. I was playing in the woods as a kid once, and I found a bucket of tar. I popped the lid off and had a lot of fun…until I got home! When I was 16, I got a job washing garbage trucks. Yes, they wash them each night like you wash your car. My clothes were so nasty, I had to ride in the back of the truck and change out of them in the garage. Also, when I was 20 years old, I visited a church in Garbage City, Cairo, Egypt. My clothes smelled so putrid that it made people sick to smell them.

Why am I telling you this? It’s because spiritually we wear clothes very similar to each of those situations. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We’re all sin-infected, sin contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags” (MSG). The Amplified Version calls them “polluted garments”. Our efforts to be good in order to get to Heaven look and smell like the clothes I was wearing on those days. Our efforts will never change our spiritual clothes. That’s something only God can do.

Zechariah had a vision of Joshua, the priest and leader of Israel. He was standing in Heaven before God and Satan was there to accuse him. Zechariah describes it this way in chapter 3 verses 3 and 4, “Joshua was standing there, wearing filthy clothes. The angel said to his heavenly attendants, ‘Take away the filthy clothes this man is wearing.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘I have taken away your sin and will give you new clothes to wear’” (GNT). Where our works create filthy rags, God’s work clothes us in righteousness.

Isaiah 61:10 says, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels” (NLT). It is God who dresses us. It is God who does the work of salvation. We simply need to present ourselves to Him, recognizing our clothes are filthy, and ask Him to change our spiritual clothes. God can take our putrid, sin stained clothes and exchange them for His righteousness. We will then be able to approach His throne of grace with all boldness clothed in righteousness.

Photo by Cameron Behymer on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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May 6, 2019 · 5:56 AM

God’s Good Grace

I’m constantly reminded that it’s not how good I am, it’s how good God’s grace is. No matter how hard I try, I’m incapable of not sinning. Temptation shows up when I’m most vulnerable and begs me to indulge. Immediately guilt consumes me and tells me what a failure I am. When I say, “I’ll just seek God’s forgiveness,” it whispers back, “You just sinned. Do you think He’ll forgive you right now? You’re not really repentant.” The lies try to keep me from the grace God wants to give me. The sin wants to pile up until I feel like I’m not worthy. The goal is to get me to give up without a fight or to keep me trying to create my own righteousness until I give up.

This is a pattern so many of us face all the time. There’s a constant battle going on trying to make us think we can live a sinless life, resist all temptations and make God proud of us. When we lose it, we end up covered in guilt and shame. In Psalm 40:12, David described it by saying, “Evil surrounds me; problems greater than I can solve come one after another. Without you, I know I can’t make it. My sins are so many! I’m so ashamed to lift my face to you. For my guilt grabs me and stings my soul until I am weakened and spent” (TPT).

Can I just remind you that God loves you for who you are and not for who you’re trying to be? I’m not saying we shouldn’t seek help or find ways to break sin addictions in our lives. I’m saying God sent His son to die on the cross to pay for our sins while we were still sinners. He loves us in our imperfect state and makes His grace available to us without a waiting period. Isaiah 61:10 says, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness” (NLT). Don’t let guilt consume you when you fail. Instead, ask God to clothe you in salvation and righteousness.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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September 8, 2016 · 5:00 AM

A Change Of Clothes


I can easily recall several times in my life when my clothes were so filthy I couldn’t wear them inside. I was playing in the woods as a kid once, and i found a bucket of tar. I popped the lid off and had a lot of fun…until I got home! When I was 16, I got a job washing garbage trucks. Yes, they wash them each night like you wash your car. My clothes were so nasty, I had to ride on the back of the truck and change out of them in the garage. Also, when I was 20 years old, I visited a church in Garbage City, Cairo, Egypt. My clothes smelled so putrid that it made people sick to smell them.

Why am I telling you this? It’s because spiritually we wear clothes very similar to each of those situations. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We’re all sin-infected, sin contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags” (MSG). The Amplified Version calls them “polluted garments”. Our efforts to be good in order to get to Heaven look and smell like the clothes I was wearing on those days. Our efforts will never change our spiritual clothes. That’s something only God can do.

Zechariah had a vision of Joshua, the priest and leader of Israel. He was standing in Heaven before God and Satan was there to accuse him. Zechariah describes it this way in chapter 3 verses 3 and 4, “Joshua was standing there, wearing filthy clothes. The angel said to his heavenly attendants, ‘Take away the filthy clothes this man is wearing.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘I have taken away your sin and will give you new clothes to wear’” (GNT). Where our works create filthy rags, God’s work clothes us in righteousness.

Isaiah 61:10 says, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels” (NLT). It is God who dresses us. It is God who does the work of salvation. We simply need to present ourselves to Him, recognizing our clothes are filthy, and ask Him to change our spiritual clothes. God can take our putrid, sin stained clothes and exchange them for righteousness. Then we won’t have to ride in the back of the truck or hide in the garage. We will be able to approach His throne of grace with all boldness.

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February 11, 2014 · 7:25 AM

The Garment Still Fits

I was speaking with a friend who is a pastor a while back. We were talking about ministry, living the Christian life and the struggles faced by those who walk away from their faith for a period of time in their life. I shared with them my story and my calling. I talked about how in the past I couldn’t see how God could still use me since my calling came before my falling away. I felt like I needed to be perfect to fulfill the role God had designed just for me and I had wrecked it. For a long time that is what kept me up at night. I knew there was no way God could use me after how I had lived.

They shared with me the story of their child who has walked away after having been raised in church. They told me about the struggles they face, not just as a pastor, but as a parent who has a child not walking in the way they were taught. With tears in our eyes I began to share my journey back and how I’ve come to the point that I believe God can still use me despite my past and how He can actually use that to His advantage. They looked at me and said, “it was no surprise to God that you walked away or came back. He knew what paths you were going to take. He took that into consideration when He designed your robe of righteousness. And you know what? The garment still fits.”

When you look at Ephesians 2:10, you see that we are God’s masterpiece. He has created you and I with a purpose in mind. When a sculptor is creating a piece of art and they come to an imperfection in the stone, they don’t start over. They don’t even try to cut that part out of the stone. They take those blemishes, those imperfection and they incorporate it into the art work. The imperfections that threaten the future of the masterpiece are what make it unique and are what really sets it apart as a work of art. The sculptor starts each project knowing there’s no perfect stone and knows they will have to work with imperfections to make each piece work.

The second part of that verse says, “He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” He knew long ago the life each of us were going to live. He knew long ago each of us would mess up. He knew we would have imperfections, sins, disabilities and doubts. He designed all of that into the plan He made for each one of us. It doesn’t matter if you found out the plan He has for your life before you walked away, after you walked away or are seeking it out. He has built the plan for your life around the things that would happen to you and the paths that you would take. He took all that into consideration and the garment still fits you.

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August 22, 2013 · 7:03 AM

Dress Code Violation

Earlier this week, a man came to a business meeting in shorts and a t-shirt. I at first thought he was a hotel guest who walked into the banquet room we were in. I went over and asked where he worked. He named the company and a location. It was just odd that he would know our normal work attire is at minimum a shirt and tie, yet he was willing to show up to a work event dressed that way. As I thought about it all day, I was reminded of a parable Jesus taught in Matthew 22.

The king had prepared a feast for the wedding of his son. He invited friends, family and dignitaries to come to the event. They all refused the invitation. On the day of the event, he sent word to them again saying, “Look, everything is on the table. Come to the feast!” Many shrugged their shoulders and went back to what they were doing. Some beat up the servants and others killed them. Finally the king sent the remaining servants out to invite anyone they came across on the streets.

When the king entered the feast, he looked around and saw someone who wasn’t dressed for the wedding. They refused to put on the garments provided. In verse 12 of the Message, the king approached him and said, “How dare you come in here looking like that! Get him out of here – fast.” He was upset that he wanted the benefits of being at the feast, but wanted to do it his own way. He didn’t want to accept what the king provided. He wanted to provide his own covering.

Just like at the king’s feast, the guy in my meeting stood out. In a room full of shirts, ties and suits, he walked in wearing shorts and t-shirts. I think we do the same thing and look the same way to God when we try to enter His presence with self righteousness on. When we think we’re fine, we can do it on our own and earn our way to heaven without going through the cross, we appear to God, the king, like this person at the feast. We dress ourselves instead of wearing the garment provided by God.

Isaiah 61:10 says, “For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with a robe of righteousness.” Those garments are provided by God and are required to be worn at the great feast. It’s His righteousness that clothes us, not ours. Isaiah 64:6 says, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Our good deeds don’t get us to heaven. We think they’re good enough, but when compared to the righteousness that God provides, they look like filthy rags.

God’s righteousness and salvation are a free gift through the work that Jesus did on the cross. They cannot be earned through righteous acts or good deeds. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace that you are saved, through faith…not by works, so that no one can boast.” The garment of salvation and entrance to heaven is only given to us through our faith in Jesus. If you’re trying to earn your way to heaven, you can stop trying today. You’ll stand out like the guy in my meeting or the person at the feast. Rely on God’s grace, accept what Jesus did through His resurrection and wear the robe of righteousness that He provides.

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