Day 2594 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Romans 4:23-24 NIV
Yesterday we discussed the sting of the truth found in God's law. That harsh realization that even our best isn't good enough is enough to send many running away from following God. That other option, the option that allows us to believe that we're doing okay and that our mistakes aren't that bad, or that we don't even make any mistakes, just has far more appeal to those who prefer the lies of sin over the opportunity to pursue righteousness.
Or maybe that’s the stumbling block that sends so many running away from a life of faith. Maybe it’s the fact that pursuing righteousness is a goal that none of us can achieve. We talked about that a day or two ago. We will never be perfect. No matter how hard we try or how focused we are, we’re going to make mistakes. Nobody will ever be able to actually catch up to righteousness. So maybe some folks don’t see the point in trying something that they’re only going to fail at doing.
But if you’re humble enough to start down that road of actually confronting your mistakes and the sins that you've allowed into your heart, you find that the pain of embarrassment and regret doesn’t fade. You realize that sin is more widespread in your life than you ever would have thought. A little curse word here and there. A moment of judgement as you drive past someone doing something you don't agree with. Perhaps that murderous movie that had you glued to the TV last night wasn't the best choice. That anger you still hold in your heart from something someone did to you years ago. A little bit of greed or envy. It's truly amazing at just how corrupted we've become in our short jaunts through this earth.
So that leaves us wondering how we could ever be seen as anything but scum in God’s eyes. How could the author of righteousness and truth ever forgive, let alone love us, when we can’t seem to make a good decision to save our lives? How can all of our sins not result in our eternal suffering? What can we possibly do to avoid what we’ve clearly earned with all those stupid choices? Have faith. Believe in Jesus. Lean on the promise that He is who He claims to be. Fall at the foot of the cross and renounce who we’ve been and beg for His guidance to a new life spent following something other than the deception of mortal sin.
“It was credited to him as righteousness.” We’ve all heard that little quote about Abraham and his faith in God. Abraham wasn’t righteous. He wasn’t free from sin. He messed up and made mistakes and did things wrong. And yet his faith was “credited to him as righteousness.” Our faith is credited to us as righteousness. That quote, as this passage in Romans teaches us, wasn’t meant for Abraham alone. It’s for us too. It’s for everyone who has faith in God’s Son. It’s for all of us who admit our guilt, fall on the mercy of God’s love, and trust that the gift of Christ can wash away our sins.
The fact is that we’ll never be righteous. We’ll never be without flaw or blemish. We’ll never figure out a way to get everything right in our lives. But our faith is our key to salvation. Our faith will be credited as the righteousness that God demands, the righteousness that we can’t attain on our own. So while we will stumble and fall, our faith will help us back up. While we’ll still slip up and do things we shouldn’t do, our faith will help us notice them and fight to do better next time. While we will never be perfect, we have the opportunity to accept the perfect gift of God’s perfect Son who came to save us from our imperfections.
Friends, it does hurt to realize that we’ll never be good enough. It all but annihilates our ego and leaves our pride broken beyond repair, but that’s right where we need to be. We need to learn to lean on our faith instead of our ego. We have to believe in more than our pride. We need to reach that place where we can finally see we’ll never be enough to realize that Christ is enough. The fact is that we have nothing to offer God because He has no needs and our best isn’t worth a thing. All we can offer God is our hearts and the faith that He really is the very definition of love and mercy that He says He is.
If we can do that, if we can have faith in God’s amazing grace, if we can believe that Christ’s salvation is enough to cover our stains, then that will be credited to us as the righteousness required to enter Heaven’s gates to the eternal peace that we will never deserve.
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