The advent of the pocket computer, otherwise known as a calculator, axed the use of the common slide rule. In the mid-70s, most companies quit producing the 400-year-old device.
Yet for half a millennium the slide rule had been the pocket computer of the science and engineering world.
Let’s dig that slide rule out again. Let’s use it to measure what God wants measured.
Our righteousness.
To see where God puts righteousness on his spiritual slide rule, let’s look to the patriarch of the Christian faith, Abraham.
The Jews of Jesus’ day had adapted their spiritual slide rule to their purposes. To gain heaven meant following the convoluted rules of Mosaic Law. If we eat this way, worship on this day, or wear this item of clothing, then we will find righteousness before God.
However, in Romans 4:10, Paul makes it clear that God’s slide rule has different markings. What is the indicator of righteousness on God’s slide rule?
Faith.
Abraham is our example. The great patriarch of the Christian faith was considered righteous before he ever started down the path of Mosaic Law. On God’s slide rule, we become righteous when we place our faith in him. The other things that mark us as Christians are simply seals of our salvation, given to us by Christ so that others will know we are his. Righteousness cannot be earned by attending on Sundays, giving in the offering plate, or praying before meals. It is a gift unto us, and we receive it simply because we have faith.
God measures us by our faith in him and not by our earthly good deeds.
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