Abraham is promised that he will be rewarded. Abraham is worried about what good it will do since he has no children, no heir. God tells Abraham to look at the stars. Abraham is told that his descendants will be like that, too many for him to count. Abraham believes in God, and God counts it as righteousness. God sees Abraham as right before Him.

We can’t be in God’s presence without righteousness. Sin separated us from God. Adam and Eve were sent from the garden. They were no longer living in God’s presence. God created man to live with Him. Man chose to walk away by choosing unrighteousness. Righteousness is what is right and good. Living in righteousness is living God’s way. He is what is right and good. When we walk with Him, then we are walking in righteousness.

Choosing unrighteousness is choosing to disobey God’s word, choosing to walk away from Him.

Because of Adam and Eve, unrighteousness is the norm for humans. It was born into us, a rebellious spirit that chooses self over choosing Him.

A man starts out life on the wrong foot. It’s called sin nature. We are selfish creatures. Self is the opposite of Christ-likeness. We were created in God’s image, Christ-like. Sin destroyed it.

To restore it, we can’t work our way back to it.

We need Christ in us to restore His image in us. We need to die to self and live like Christ. Then Christ’s image will be in us. Then we will be walking God’s way. Then we will be walking in righteousness.

How? How do we get the life of Christ in us? By faith. Abraham believed what God had said, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

We can do the same. We believe. We believe in God’s word. We believe what God has said.

What has God said? He loves you. Jesus died on the cross to take away your sins. Believe it and be righteous before him.