Can I just say that this statement probably blew the Pharisees away. "What in the world does this blasphemer mean? No one could ever be more righteous than us!" This probably also freaked out the disciples because they knew that their righteousness didn't exceed the Pharisees. But the Pharisees "righteousness" was their external following of every Law. They condemned others who weren't as righteous as they were. Jesus' point here is not that we're to try to be like the Pharisees but that our own righteousness is never going to be enough. Even theirs wasn't enough; He said it had to exceed it. Jesus is the only one who is truly righteous. We can only have true righteousness through Him. He died and rose again so that we could be set free from the sin that enslaves us and be made righteous.
Something that I have always had a hard time understanding and living out is that when I believe on Jesus Christ and repent, I am righteous in God's sight. I would read verses in the Bible that talk about the righteous and what God does for the righteous(especially in the Psalms) and I would automatically think, "Well, that one doesn't apply to me, I'm not there yet." I always felt like I was too far from the place that I needed to be at to go to Jesus. I felt like had to work harder and follow the rules better and maybe I might get there one day. But I don't have to work for righteousness. I can't earn it. I will never be good enough no matter how hard I try. The Pharisees followed every Law to a "t"(or so they thought) and still weren't good enough in and of themselves. The only choice that I have is to fall into Jesus' arms in surrender, repent and ask Him to wash me and then clothe me in His righteousness.
Application:
Today, I will write "clothed in His righteousness" on my arm so that I remember that it's not my own righteousness that I have to work for but Jesus' righteousness that gets me into the kingdom of heaven.
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