Philippians 3:9 says, "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 through faith."
This is a concept that I have struggling with lately. I have a hard time with believing and abiding in the righteousness that I know God has given me. I know that I have been forgiven. I know that I have been made righteous. But this is not a worldly righteousness but righteousness given to me through Christ's sacrifice. It is one thing to know this in my head and then to believe it in my heart and walk in it. To live it out.
That is totally different than just knowing it. But something that I have been learning since being here is that if I don't accept the forgiveness and the righteousness that I have been given through Christ, I am rejecting Christ and saying that His sacrifice wasn't enough for me. That's not what I'm meaning to do. By rejecting righteousness, in my head, I think that I'm doing right because I'm showing remorse for what I did but what I'm really doing is dwelling in the past. I'm still mourning the death of my old life. Instead I need to be rejoicing in the victory of Christ over my old life. I need to accept Christ's righteousness through faith.
Now I need to remember who wrote this. Paul. Formerly Saul. One of the chief persecutors of Christians. This guy has a nasty past. But through faith He was able to find himself in God and accept Christ's righteousness. He had to die and let God live through Him. If Paul could get over the guilt of his past, I think I can too. But I can't do it on my own. If I do, it will then be my own righteousness. My own righteousness will only keep me in chains. I need to accept Christ's righteousness and forgiveness by faith and by completing letting go of my past.
Application:
Today, I'm going to memorize this verse.
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