Not having my own
righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in
Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
Philippians 3:9
The grace of God is the unearned, undeserved and unmerited
favour of God. When God answers you in your most undeserving moment, that is
grace. That is His amazing, unmerited favour! At your lowest
point, in your darkest hour, His light shines through for you and you become a
recipient of His unmerited favour, and a recipient of favour can’t help but
want to extend grace to others.
My friend, in and of
ourselves, we don’t deserve anything good. But because we are in Christ and in
His righteousness, God will not withhold any blessing from our lives today. Our
part is not to struggle in our own works and be independent from God, but to
focus on receiving all that we need from Him.
I believe that the more
righteousness-conscious you are, the more you will experience God’s unmerited
favour. When the voice of disqualification comes to remind you of all the areas
that you have fallen short in, that’s the time to turn to
Jesus who qualifies you and hear His voice. That is the true fight of faith!
The fight of faith is to fight to believe that you are made righteous by faith
and not by works. Paul, speaking of his own achievements under the law, said
that he counts them all “as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in
Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but
that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from
God by faith” (Philippians 3:8–9).
So there are clearly two
types of righteousness in the Bible: (1) A righteousness that comes from your
obedience and from you trying to earn your way to attain it. (2) A
righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus Christ.
Only one of these has a
solid, unshakable foundation. One is built upon you and your ability
to keep the law, while the other is built upon the Rock of all ages—Jesus
Christ. One can only give you the occasional confidence to ask for God’s
favour, depending on how well you perceive you have done. The other gives you
confidence ALL THE TIME to access His unmerited favour, even when you feel that
you are greatly undeserving.
What do you want to depend on
when push comes to shove—your wavering righteousness or the perfect, rock-solid
righteousness of Jesus? It is your faith in the righteousness of Jesus that
gives you the right to God’s unmerited favour. Today, because of what Jesus did
on the cross, you can expect good things to happen to you. You can ask God for
big things and reach out to the blessed destiny that He has for you and your
family. His righteousness is your right to God’s unmerited favour! Don’t let
any voice of accusation tell you otherwise!
No comments:
Post a Comment