Righteousness -- that's what we need more than anything else.
With righteousness, we receive life:
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8: 10)
In our bodies, in our minds, there is a never-ending sense of "not good enough" which does not go away.
Because every human being in this world is born dead in trespasses, alienated from God and filled with sin, everyone of us needs righteousness, a gift which God the Father offers to us through His Son, which we receive by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Even people who are flagrant sinners, as well as the arrogant and pious types in our midst, at their core cannot run away from the sense that all is just not well in this world. The emptiness, the frustration,, the knowledge that there must be more to this life than ourselves, simply cannot escape us.
When Paul the Apostles readily preached the Good News, that through Christ we can be justified from all things, from which we could not be justified in our efforts, many Gentiles and Jews received this message gladly (Acts 13: 38-39)
Alcoholics Anonymous punishes men and women with a sense of reproach and shame which never dissipates.
This evil cult instills in the members the unending reproach of "alcoholic", then informs them that they can never escape because they were born that way.
No, beloved, your identity is in Christ, for He is our life (Colossians 3: 3-4).
His righteousness is the gift which we keep on receiving (Romans 5: 17), and through His righteousness we receive life (Romans 8: 10)
This Spirit of God lives in us because of this wonderful gift of righteousness: not something that we earn, but something that we receive as a gift, because we simply cannot earn it.
There is no end to self-examination for us, for every human being was brought into this world dead in his trespasses (Ephesians 2: 1; Romans 5: 15-17)
We do not need to make ourselves better. We need a new self, a new life which we receive in Christ:
"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
Notice in this passage that we set our eyes on Christ Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God.
We do not look at ourselves, for we are dead, in that we reckon ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6: 11-14) and dead to the rudiments of the world (Colossians 2: 20-21)
Look at Christ, Believe on Him, and grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, and let all scripture train you in the righteousness which you are receiving in Christ (2 Timothy 3:16)
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