“In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is the name he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.”
Jeremiah 23:6 CSB
Is this not good, even amazing, news? The Lord is our Righteousness! That is His name!
The immediate context of this verse seems to be our Lord’s plan to return His people from exile. The even bigger picture points to One who will be a “Righteous Branch of David” who will “reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land” (23:5).
And He will be our righteousness. How many times do we try to accomplish righteousness on our own? I think I faltered several times today—all well-intended, and not too long afterwards, all short-lived.
Two things seem especially important to me when we live with an awareness of our Lord as our righteousness. First, Christmas! That is, it is another way of saying that He is the One who saves us, not we who save ourselves. And so the angel said His name would be Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). And second, I think we can say that the pressure is off. We can do whatever is before us today with confidence because we know that nothing ultimate is at stake. We can trust Him to care for us and show us how to best live and how to best love. We can say with the psalmist, “He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3).
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