Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Self-Righteousness Or His Righteousness?

Religious people often come to the conclusion that, since they have not done big sins, they are good. And they happily condemn and judge the so-called big sinners. But the call is to seek His righteousness (right-standing with God), not ours.

Let us see how the Scripture views sin:


1. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” - James 2:10-11 NKJV

Some may scoff at this verse, saying that they have neither committed adultery nor murdered anyone. But Jesus said, “You have heard…You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” (Matt 5:28). Jesus' definition of adultery is different from ours. And He was making this point to the self-righteous religious crowd who heavily gave weight to the external actions, when sin originates from within.

2. Jesus warned, “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause, is in danger of judgment,” (Matt 5:22). John says, “He who hates his brother is a murderer,” (1 John 3:15). As per the Scripture,  hatred in the heart is same as murder. It does not matter how justified we are in our sight.

3. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” - James 4:17

When was the last time we saw a broken down car on the highway and passed by them without offering a helping hand when we know that we should help them?

4. “…whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” - Romans 14:23

What is my point here?

This is not a post of condemnation for there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. The goal of this post is merely to pop the self-righteous bubble that we sometimes love to walk around in, while judging and condemning others. Not one of us are righteous by our own merits. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

In God’s eyes, there is no big or small sin. Sin is sin, even if it is a “white” lie or a cold-blooded murder. To be perfect in God’s eyes, we have to score 100 out of 100. There is no silver star for 99.999 out of 100. The truth is, not one of us can achieve this with our own effort, no matter how sincere we are in our effort. This is precisely the reason why we needed a Savior. His name is Jesus.

If the perfection that God requires of us to be in His right-standing could be achieved by our good works and by keeping the Law, Jesus did not have to go through the gruesome torture and crucifixion (see Gal 2:21). Since it is humanly impossible to reach God’s righteousness with our effort, Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf and while we were sinners, Christ demonstrated the height of His love for us by paying the penalty for our sins with His own precious and sinless blood.

In the past, people sacrificed animals to temporarily cover their sins, but Jesus' perfect sacrifice on the Cross wiped away the sin - once and for all. We won't be able to experience this awesome grace for us in Christ Jesus, if we think we can earn and keep our salvation by our feeble efforts to keep the law.

Praise God for His gift that we cannot earn with our works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph 2:8-9 NKJV).

We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So let us  wholeheartedly stand each day in His righteousness. In Him, we are now made righteous.



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