Waiting For The Hope Of Righteousness

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith (Galatians 5:5).

The Christian life involves many aspects of time.  One aspect of faith directed towards Christ focuses on work completed by him in the very distant past.  What he accomplished by dying on the cross may have occurred many years ago, but it is crucial to the Christian life today.  It is the foundation upon which all other truth resides (Romans 15:20; 1Corinthians 3:11). Another aspect of faith focuses on the work of Christ in the present.  He is our guide, deliverer, strength and source of joy.  The future focus of faith is directed at our position in Christ.  Paul speaks of waiting for the hope of righteousness.  At this current time, we battle the guilt of our past, our present failures and the thought of future expectations.  There is nothing in the present that can strengthen our future hope and position in Christ.  It has already been established.  We must maintain this hope by faith because we are in Christ.

Legalism takes root in people who have difficulty waiting for the hope of righteousness by faith and want to experience the security or rather the false security of it now.  They look for the evidence of their position of righteousness.  However, they will never find it.  Paul states in Romans 7:18, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing."  They create long lists of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" in oder to determine weather they are a good Christian, but in the end they continue to fall short.  Their life becomes the antithesis of Romans 1:17 ever trying to justify themselves before men by their works.  In the area of measuring up spiritually, they are still walking by sight.

To break free from this bondage is a difficult matter, but it is possible.  In order for the victory of freedom to occur you must do the following: do not make spiritual decisions based on fear, because God is not the author of fear (2 Timothy 1:7); remove the influences from your life that are delivering you the wrong message which is legalism (Romans 16:17-18); and do not interpret what is believed to be what the Bible is saying: only accept what the Bible says (2 Peter 1:20).

These few steps are really gigantic leaps.  Few will recognize them.  Of those that do, many will repeated fall.  However because Christ wants you to be free, he will pick you up and lead you to try again and again until you experience the victory that is in him.