RIghteousness Through Christ

Philippians 3:8-9
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.


Ah, the second part of this fascinating passage. I find it interesting that many times a new verse will start in the middle of a sentence. Of course, with Paul at the pen, it has to happen sometimes – I don’t think he ever would have used a period, if God hadn’t told him to. So yesterday, we talked about considering every thing rubbish, that we would gain Christ and a knowledge of Him. Today we tack on the next part, regarding the desire to be found in Him. Why? So that we would have a righteousness that is not our own, but that comes to us through faith in Christ.

That gives me such encouragement and joy, to know that no amount of doing the "right thing" or following God’s "to-do list" will make me any more righteous than I became the moment Christ’s atoning blood poured over me. I am found righteous through Christ alone, and there is nothing I can do to change that – praise and glory be! That is why Paul was able to count all his "trophies" of religious-living rubbish and dung – they were meaningless, and meant nothing in the sight of God. All our righteous acts are like filthy rags (I won’t even go into the meaning of that verse right now). Again, there is nothing we can do that will make us more or less righteous than we are right this very moment.

Can you feel the release? The pressure is off – we no longer have to perform. We can simply live – in faith. We can go forward today, seeking the face of God, and do what we must do, not to impress Him, but to get to know Him, to bring Him pleasure and joy to celebrate our righteousness in Him, to worship the One who draws us to Him with each breath, each waking moment. It is not righteousness we seek, for that we already have. It is the deepening of the relationship that this righteousness has offered us – a relationship with the Most High God, perfect and holy – with Whom we can now converse and live freely because of the sacrifice of the Lover of our souls, our Lord Jesus Christ.