Righteous means being in right standing before God, worthy of standing before God the Father, faultless. Jesus is the only man to ever live on the earth who lived a perfect life, without fault. Not needing to feel shame or guilt or regret. We, however, feel the weight of this shame and guilt and regret when we look into our hearts and into our souls. We feel the tension between who we want to be and who we are not. We have no righteousness of our own, but thanks be to God the Father for sending Jesus, who paid our debt and bought the ability to declare us righteous by swallowing up our sin and failures—by imparting His perfection on those who would call upon His name.   

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,

Throughout the advent season we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior. We prepare our hearts, calling one another and ourselves back to this beautiful, loving, and wonderful God who came to rescue us.