No Right to be Self-Righteous
Everything you have is a gift from God.
In God’s eyes, you are holy and righteous. You really are! When He sees you, He sees His beloved child.
Thank about that. You are a precious child of God! You have His love and His blood! You are holy and righteous. What could be more awesome?
I can’t think of anything! But some people hesitate to own this identity. I think they fear coming across as self-righteous. This is a valid fear. We’ve all met a self-righteous person or two. Who wants to be identified with that?
No one does, but “righteous” and “self-righteous” are not the same thing. Salvation makes us holy and righteous, but we have no right to be self-righteous. That’s because we can’t earn righteousness. It’s a gift from God.
Self-Righteousness
It’s easy to confuse “holy and righteous” with “self-righteous,” but there is a big difference.
According to Google, self-righteous means “having or characterized by a certainty, especially an unfounded one, that one is totally correct or morally superior.” Self-righteousness is accompanied by “indignation and complacency.” Synonyms for self-righteousness include: sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, self-satisfied, smug, priggish, pious, moralizing, preachy, superior, and hypocritical. Self-righteous is the opposite of humble.
The Bible describes the Sadducees as self-righteous. Not “holy and righteous,” but “self-righteous.” The Sadducees believed they were holy and righteous, because they were very strict about keeping the law. As a result they came across as self-righteous, because they judged others by their works. That’s why Jesus didn’t really like them very much.
The Sadducees didn’t understand that you can’t get yourself into God’s kingdom. It doesn’t matter what you do. It’s God’s kingdom. He invites you in.
You don’t go to your neighbor’s home and say, “Here, I paid my taxes. Now I get to live in your house.” Of course not!
It’s the same with God’s kingdom. You get to live there because God invites you in. It has nothing to do with what you do. Nothing at all!
Righteousness Is a Gift From God
The Bible describes the Sadducees as self-righteous, and I am pretty sure you’ve met one or two self-righteous people in your time. Self-righteousness is actually just being full of yourself. But the Bible says to boast in nothing.
Salvation is a gift from God!
You can’t save yourself from sin any more than a prince can make himself a prince. How does a prince become a prince? He is born that way. He feeds from his mother the Queen’s bosom, and every day people tell him, “You’re the prince.” So he’s the prince! He didn’t do anything. The King’s his dad!
In the same way, you didn’t do anything to become God’s precious child. He created you! He’s your Dad! The Bible says, “you in Me, and I in you.” Isn’t that enough? Anything apart from that is rubbish.
If you’re going to boast about anything, boast about what Christ did for you. Through His blood, His righteousness is on you. Through His blood, His holiness is on you. You are holy and righteous because of what He did. Tell people about that!
Living as God’s Child
When you live out of the identity of holiness and righteousness, by grace and in grace, you will feast on the gifts of God!
You will want to do good things! You’ll look for opportunities. You will look at the people around you, believers and non-believers, and in them you will see the image of God. You’ll love them. You’ll want to treat them lovingly.
And you will! That’s the natural result of salvation.
But it’s not the reason for salvation. You will serve people, but you can’t save them. You can’t save someone any more than you can save yourself. No matter what you do, you cannot walk up to someone and say, “Hey! I can get you into heaven!”
You can’t get anybody into heaven. Heaven is God’s kingdom. He invites you in.
Bring the Good News. Tell everyone what Jesus did. Tell them about His grace. Serve people as He served us. Help them see how awesome it is that He allows us to come into His throne room.
All you have to do is receive Him. Simply receive Him. Confess what His blood has done for you, making you holy and righteous.
You are beloved. How do you know? God says you are!
Once your heart connects to this, you will worship Jesus because of what He did. He set you free! His door is open! You will become part of the kingdom of Heaven and receive all its benefits. All of them!
When you accept His sacrifice, you feast!
I am the author of To Stir a Movement: Life, Justice, and Major League Baseball (2013), and my second book is in the works. Visit my Huffington Post page here. I blog here. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter: @JeremyAffeldt.
