Finding Rest In The Gospel

Sin and Righteousness. One good, the other bad. Right? Not necessarily.

Yes, the sins of man are bad. Always. Period.

And the righteousness of God is good. Always. Period.

But, what about our own righteousness? Isn’t it good to be righteous?

Dictionary.com says being righteous is “acting in an upright, moral way.” That doesn’t sound bad. Shouldn’t we all strive to live upright, moral lives?

Striving to live a moral life isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As with almost anything, in the end, it comes down to my motives. Why am I trying to live a moral, upright life? There is a fine line between striving to live pleasing to God out of gratitude for who He is and what He has done for us and striving to earn our salvation or His favor.

As Christians, we want to live pleasing to God. And that’s great! BUT, the truth is, our God is more holy than we could ever fathom and all our righteous acts are but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) in comparison to His incomparable greatness. And the even uglier truth is even those things good, noble things we do are most often tainted with impure motives or pride or self-glorification.

Living in our own righteousness can create a few problems:

1. When we feel like we are, we lean toward pride
2. When we feel like we aren’t, we lean toward despair
3. All that striving leaves us weary

Augustine said, “The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.” I don’t know about you, but those words by Augustine shoot holes through my unrighteous motives for trying to be righteous. The truth found in those words, sets my heart at rest in what Jesus Christ has already accomplished for me.

The good news of the gospel is that it isn’t about our performance. It’s about Jesus’ finished work for us.  We are freed to rest and delight greatly in Him, because He has clothed us in His salvation and His righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).

In this month’s issue of Exemplify Magazine, I explore the effects of our own sin and our own righteousness in our lives. Click here to read the article entitled, “Bedraggled? The Gospel Is The Answer” on pages 12-13 of the magazine.

Here are two other resources pertaining to this topic as well, both of which I highly recommend.

Tim Keller’s article, “All of Life Is Repentance.”

Tim Keller’s sermon, “The Two Prodigals.”

Praying today, that you find rest in what Christ has already accomplished for you and that you will trust Him for what He will accomplish in and through you. He is our reason for hope.