Life is too short to live without Jesus Christ every day. We’ve got to get something straight from the very beginning—salvation and righteousness aren’t about what we do, but about what Jesus has already done. The danger comes when we start thinking our performance is what makes us right with God; this is pride in disguise. Fully believing that His death and resurrection opened the gates of heaven to us sets us on the right course.
It’s All About Christ
All the Old Testament pointed to Jesus. Everything in it was a shadow of Him, the one who cast the shadow. He was the mediator of the new covenant, and His blood speaks better things than Abel’s blood (Hebrews 12:24). Abel’s blood cried for vengeance, but Jesus’ blood cries for mercy, pardon, grace, and life; this is the foundation of righteousness and salvation.
God’s will is that we walk in victory over sin. “…These things I write unto you, that ye sin not…” (1 John 2:1). This is the standard. It isn’t God’s will for a believer to fall into sin, but let’s be real—we live in a hostile world, still in the flesh, facing daily temptations from the enemy. When a believer does sin, it’s not the end of the road; we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and His blood is our insurance policy.
A Change in Lifestyle
The truth is that claiming salvation means there should eventually be fruit that matches our confession. We’re saved by grace through faith, not works. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Saying we’re righteous by faith means there should be some corresponding action.
Grace isn’t an excuse to live however we want; it’s the empowerment to live in line with who God has made us to be. In a letter to the Romans, Paul made it clear that we’re dead to sin, so we can’t keep living in it. When we understand this, we stop using grace as a license to sin and start using it as the power to overcome it. Real transformation begins when what we believe in our hearts shows up in how we live every day.
A Shift in Mindset
When we sin, God gives us the process: confess and forsake. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). Forgiveness is available, but mercy flows when we turn away from the sin, not just admit it. Repentance is a change of mind, heart, and direction. That’s how we keep the pipeline of God’s mercy open.
Too many believers miss it by continually trying to fix sin with self-effort. We can cry, fast, beat ourselves up, or promise God we’ll never do it again, but nothing can cleanse sin except Jesus’ blood. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14). His blood doesn’t just cover sin, but removes it; it purges our conscience from guilt, and makes it possible to serve Him without condemnation. We can lift our hands without shame, knowing that in God’s eyes, the record is clean.
Trusting in the Blood
Walking in righteousness requires walking in the light. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). This involves acknowledging sin for what it is, refusing to excuse it or hide it. If we try to justify wrong behavior, the blood can’t work, but the cleansing begins the moment we bring it into the light.
Unforgiveness blocks that flow just as much as hidden sin. Bitterness rots the bones and keeps us in spiritual “dis-ease.” This is why Jesus told us to love one another, even when it hurts. Acting like Jesus means forgiving as we have been forgiven, completely and without keeping score.
Accepting Our Righteous Identity
Forgiveness doesn’t mean we approve of the wrong; it means we refuse to let it chain us to the past. Our identity is at stake. God blots out our transgressions for His own sake and remembers our sins no more (Isaiah 43:25). When God forgives, He forgets, which means we need to stop reminding Him, and ourselves, of what He’s already erased.
Instead of clinging to the past, we should believe what God says about us: we’re the righteousness of God in Christ, holy, blessed, and forgiven. This isn’t denial, but agreement with heaven. When we keep speaking God’s Word about who we are, our lifestyle will eventually line up with that truth.
Receiving God’s Gift to Us
So, how do righteousness and salvation work together? Salvation is the doorway that allows us to receive righteousness by faith in Jesus’ finished work; righteousness is the standing we have before God because of that salvation. It’s a gift we could never earn, but one that comes with the expectation to live like who we are. “…Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16, NKJV).
We must stop living like we’re barely saved and start living like the blood has really done its work. That means refusing to be condemned when we fall but also refusing to settle in sin. When we mess up, we repent quickly, plead the blood over ourselves, and get back to walking in the light. It’s not about perfection, but about progression.
We’ve Been Forgiven
At the end of the day, the blood of Jesus speaks for us before the throne of God. It’s not saying “guilty, condemned,” but “forgiven, righteous.” The more we believe this, the more we’ll live it. Remembering this lets us walk in the freedom, victory, and full benefits of our covenant in Christ.
Satan is constantly attacking our identity; however, he’s defeated when we know who we are and refuse to budge from it. We can be thankful for the blood, because without it, neither righteousness nor salvation would be possible. Every time he tries to drag us back into guilt, we can stand our ground and declare, “No! You’ve got the wrong person. I’m washed, I’m clean, and I’m free.”
