The Bible says that God will surround the righteous with favour. If you are trusting in the finished work of Christ, God sees you as ‘righteous’ (see Romans 3:22). So, you qualify; you can pray, ‘Lord, I need your favour in this job interview,’ or ‘in selling this house’, or ‘in making this deal’, or ‘in going on this date’, etc. Be prepared for your old programming to kick in, where you think about the word ‘righteous’; you begin to wonder if your thoughts, words, and deeds are good enough to deserve God’s favour. Here is a truth you need to keep in mind: the only righteousness that God responds to is the righteousness of Christ. And since He has placed you ‘in Christ’, you are always qualified to ask God for favour and believe He will grant it. You are saved by grace. And the word grace means ‘unearned, unmerited, undeserved favour’. The world’s concept of favour is misleading: ‘She owes me a favour,’ or ‘I don’t owe you any favours!’ In other words, the world’s concept of favour is totally performance based. But the only performance God looks at when it comes to granting you His favour is Christ’s performance on your behalf and the fact that you are trusting totally in Him. His life covers all your sins of omission, and His death covers all your sins of commission. And since God always sees you ‘in Christ’, in His eyes you are always qualified for favour. ‘Righteousness…shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus’ (Romans 4:22, 24 NKJV). So, today expect God’s favour.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.