It Starts Small

Some of the most terrible lies I believed:

You will never be right with God because of your sin and your past.

Sound familiar? Be honest?

I want to share with you that, yes, you can not get right with God in your way or your own righteousness. Why?

All of us have become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like a polluted^[a] garment;
all of us wither like a leaf,
and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

Isaiah 64:6

Kind of makes the very breath leave your lungs.

But guess what? The good news is that on the cross, Jesus became our sin and nailed sin to the cross!

²¹ But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. ²² The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. ²³ For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴ they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. ²⁶ God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:21-26

Does that not want to make you jump out of your chair and sing hallelujah praise Jesus?

Jesus took the full wrath of God, that we all deserve, so we would not have to! When we received Christ as our Savior, we take on His righteousness and become the righteousness of God through Him.

Now, when God, our Heavenly Father see us, He sees Jesus in us! He sees you and me as His children and part of His kingdom. The enemy is relentless as bring up your past sins and failures, but you know what… JESUS obliterated your sin once and for all! We fall short, but it is the Lord who picks us up when we repent of our sin and mistakes. It is Jesus who laid down His life for us to be made right with God.

I want to encourage us to stand firm on this truth today! We can stand in this truth and have a right relationship with the Father because of the shed blood of Jesus and this truth will NEVER change!

Thoughts to Ponder:

• Do you struggle with shame? Has the enemy weaponized your past and convinced you that because of past sin and mistakes there is no hope for you?
• Do you recognize that there is nothing we can do to be righteous in our own way?
• What encourages you today or challenges your heart today?

See also: Blog Series – Pursuing Righteousness