Why You Need to Stop Trying to Be a Good Christian
If I asked you, on a scale of 1 to 10, how righteous, or good, of a Christian you were, what would you say?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how "good" of a Christian would you say you are? In this short clip, Paul reveals that God sees you as a perfect "10," and shows you how knowing, and believing this to be true will change the way you live your life every single day.
You might answer, “Well Paul, it depends on which day you ask me!” Some days we might give ourselves a 7 or 8 while other days, when we miss our prayer time or Bible reading, or laugh at a joke we shouldn't have, we might only give ourselves a 3 or 4. We tend to make the assessment based on how well we feel we’ve behaved or, how well we think we performed that day.
My friend, I have good news for you, God doesn't use that scale.
God doesn’t look at how well you perform to determine how righteous you are.
The Bible says that my righteous acts, the best behaviour I can come up with, in and of myself, are no more than filthy rags to God. If God used the same scale as we do to determine how righteous we are, we wouldn't even be a 1 on that scale, and that would be on our best day!
Paul tells us, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17 (NASB)
You see, God knows we don't have a hope of measuring up on our scale, that’s why He gave us yet another gift.
At the Cross, God gave us His gift of righteousness.
How hard do you have to work for a gift? Well, not at all, right? If you had to work for it, it wouldn't be a gift. Through Jesus, God gave you His gift of righteousness, and if you have received that gift, you are completely righteous.
So let me ask you that original question again, how righteous are you? How good a Christian are you on a scale of 1 to 10? My friend, you're a 10! And because you didn't earn that 10 with the “how well you perform scale,” it can't be lessened by the “how well you perform scale,” no matter how you feel. You won't always feel like a 10 but that's irrelevant. God sees you as completely righteous no matter what. Isn't that great news?! And if you start believing that you’re a 10, that you are completely righteous, guess what? You're going to act completely righteous!
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