Righteousness

The righteous are righteous because of their trust and dependence on God, not in anything that they have done or ever will do. They are righteous because they recognize and acknowledge their fallen nature and separation from God the Father because of sin. They are righteous because of their faith in Jesus; that He is the Son of God, that He came to the earth, that He lived and showed and repaired the right way of relationship with God, one another and with oneself, that He suffered and died in their place for their sins so that they will have a clear conscience before God in that day of judgement that they firmly believe is coming for all mankind, that Jesus rose from the dead in a glorified body and ascended back to heaven to be seated with God in His glory and that they too will have that same experience as followers of Christ, being transformed from finite beings separated from God the Father, to infinitely alive and related to the Father for the glory of God and to the praise of Jesus for all of eternity.

The unrighteous are not so. They do not acknowledge God in any of their ways. Their trust is in their own limited strength and understanding. In the foolishness of their minds, they believe that they exist in and of themselves, that they are gods and know everything, that they have the capacity to exist for all eternity. They do not understand or believe that the life they have is finite and has an end. Because they oppose perfect God as Creator and His holy salvation in Jesus Christ, they are judged and found unrighteous, wicked and rebellious, they rail against the Creator and set themselves in the seat of God Himself. They deny Christ and their need for a Savior, rejecting Jesus and the entire plan of God for perfect relationship with Him forever. They will find themselves judged to receive exactly what they have served, separation from God, reaping the object of their faith, their wickedness and unrighteousness, for all of eternity.

Psalm 1