I was reviewing some memory verses and after a brief review of 2 Corinthians 5:17 in context, I came to the following passage at the end:
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:20, 21 NIV)
I find that amazing. In Christ, we are God’s righteousness. This is why our self-righteousness is so destructive. Our righteousness is not restorative, but vindictive, not patient, but judgmental. We do not have righteousness that serves others, but that serves ourselves. We don’t carry others’ burdens in our righteousness; rather we make others’ unrighteousness plain to all. We expose rather than cover up. We dispense authority rather than mutual submission. In all ways, God’s righteousness is superior, and He demonstrates His righteousness in assembling His church and reconciling it to Himself in Christ.
In Christ we are a new creation. Be reconciled to God. Watch Him make you His righteousness.