You Don’t Work for Righteousness — You Live From It

Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon · 2026-10-26

An orchard tree bearing fruit from a well-rooted trunk

Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. — Romans 6:13

Notice the tense. Those who have been brought from death to life. Paul does not say "present yourselves so that you may be brought to life". The life comes first; the presenting follows. That order - gift, then response - is the grammar of the whole New Testament, and getting it backwards is the source of most spiritual misery.

Working for, and living from

Working for righteousness means treating every act of obedience as a payment toward acceptance. It is exhausting and never finishes. Living from righteousness means treating every act of obedience as the expression of an acceptance already given. It is restful and it never stops.

The behaviour may look the same from outside. Both people pray, serve, resist sin. But one does it to become something and the other does it because he already is, and only the second is free.

How the apostles put it

"Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1). The calling comes first; the walk answers it.
"Be what you are": Paul tells the Corinthians they are unleavened, and therefore to clean out the leaven.
"Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above" (Colossians 3:1). Since, not so that.

A fruit tree, not a factory

A factory produces to earn its keep. A tree produces because of what it is. The believer is a tree, planted in Christ, and fruit is not the price of its place in the orchard but the evidence of its life. When you obey, you are not manufacturing righteousness. You are bearing it.

Practically

Before an act of obedience, say to yourself: I am doing this because I am righteous in Christ, not in order to be. It changes the weight of the act. It also, strangely, makes the act easier - because you are no longer carrying your whole standing on every decision. You are living from righteousness. Let the living show.