A Righteousness By Faith
By Ross Gilbert
All behaviour is motive driven. We make choices with an aim to accomplish or to satisfy a particular need. Each of us have basic, fundamental needs - needs that do not take into account your gender, your race, your nationality, your age, your hobbies - needs that are intrinsic to the human race. To deny the existence of these needs is to deny being human. But we also have even deeper needs than these.
At the heart of every person is the longing to be accepted - to be loved.
Men look to prove that they are worthy of love and acceptance through their competence. They are constantly asking themselves, “Do I have what it takes? Am I doing well enough that others will respect me?” That is why disrespect is so damaging to a man. It says to him that he is unworthy of love and approval. Women also seek to be worthy of love and acceptance, but they determine their status a little differently. In general, women are haunted by the question, “Am I enough, or am I too much, or both?” How we answer these questions will determine how we deal with shame.
Ever since the fall, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and shame entered into our world, men and women have been struggling to overcome that shame, trying to find a sense of value and worth. We inherited that shame and now every one of us, at various times, look to what we are doing to evaluate who we are as a person by asking, “What is the standard for a life of value and worth, so I can be accepted and loved?”
These are some of the common standards or expectations that people often use to measure themselves against.
Don’t sin. Ever. Unless it’s the socially acceptable ones that we can’t measure, like gossiping or swearing.
Don’t get fired because then you will be poor and being poor means that you are failing in our culture.
Don’t let others down – always make sure that you do what you said you were going to do.
These are all good things, correct?
The problem is that we are determining our approval and worth based on our ability to be successful. This is the definition of righteousness by works.
And there are others that are not mentioned above that you might use to measure yourself but the situation remains the same - no matter what you do, it will never be enough; no matter what you have accomplished, there is still more to be done tomorrow.
The reason it will never work is because the love and acceptance we need is unconditional in nature. It cannot be achieved or earned. But when we, as Christians, attempt to earn our love and acceptance – be it from others, ourselves, or even God – we are living like the Jews who lived under the law.
Romans 9:31-32a (NASB) says, “Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.” The law is an achievement system where the Jews thought that they could work for their righteousness. Today, many Christians are doing the same thing, sometimes even using the old Jewish laws, but mostly with their own set of standards.
Read how Paul describes this system of standards that we use to judge ourselves: “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NASB) Those standards that we try to measure up to, kill and condemn us. It is a frustration that forces and pushes us to discover another way.
Here enters Jesus. Through His death and resurrection on the Cross, He has:
taken away all of your sin.
made you one with Him.
made you a new creation – the old broken, shamed, not good enough person was crucified and buried with Jesus.
When we begin to believe that we are qualified for love through Jesus, our circumstances might not change, but our lives will.
How we see ourselves and others will be different, too. When we begin to really trust what Jesus has done for us we will have:
victory over sin because we know that God’s love helps us to avoid sins that are a poor attempt at finding love.
freedom from trying to get people’s approval.
freedom to walk in what Jesus has created us to do.
Here is the question that I want you to ponder for yourself: “Will you trust that God’s love is enough?” When you are doubting your worth, and when you wonder how anyone could love someone that so consistently messes up, remember that Jesus accepts you. Not for who you should be, not for what you do or don’t do, but because of what He has done on the Cross – where He forgave you and made you into a new creation – a new person that is worthy of His love.