Imagine spending your whole life trying to achieve something, only to discover that your best efforts were missing the mark. Now, consider this: there are two ways to miss out on God's righteousness, and one of them might surprise you. Are you ready to find out what they are?
The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22-24).
One way of missing God’s righteousness is obvious; the other may be surprising.
The first way to miss God’s righteousness is by sinning. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Think of all the outright lawlessness along with the more subtle acts of selfishness, pettiness, callousness, and cruelty that we commit against each other, and everyone falls short of the glory of God.
The second way of missing God’s righteousness is less obvious, i.e., by trying to be moral. Let me explain. Those who consider themselves “good moral people” struggle with this. They hear that righteousness comes to us freely, as a gift, through faith in Jesus, and they can’t believe it. “Charity? Not for me, thank you very much. I’m doing just fine fulfilling the law.” Their confidence in their morality is used as a defense against the gift. They can’t admit their actual condition of being addicted to sin. The more they “succeed” in being moral, the worse off they are as they become even more convinced they do not need God’s grace—not in the way preached by us crazy grace people. So, they miss God’s righteousness by turning their backs on the free gift.
In the end, whether through blatant sin or misguided moralism, both paths disqualify you from God’s righteousness. The only way to be righteous is through faith in Jesus. So, as you reflect on your own life, ask yourself: have you been missing God’s righteousness without even realizing it? It’s not too late to accept the free gift that God offers to all who believe.
Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.
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You said "They can't admit their actual condition of being addicted to sin " this to me is where repentance is part of saving faith. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict or convince the person of their lost and sinful condition. The response [repentance] is agreeing with the Holy Spirit and turning to God in belief that Jesus is the Messiah [Christ] the Divine and human Son of God.John16:8.In Acts 26:20 Paul says "I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. Deeds should follow repentance, but might not, it's not a proof of repentance otherwise the danger of a works righteous, and assurance based on works or good deeds .James 2:20 being the perfect example. If we view repentance in this way it would clear up a lot of confusion. In other context repentance could be interpreted to be a turning from sins but not when used in salvation verses.