Tag: Christ’s righteousness

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Philippians Devotionals

Standing in grace

Standing in grace

So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. (Philippians 4:1)

Chapter 4 starts in a strange place. Verse 1 really should be in chapter 3 because it wraps up everything Paul was saying.

How do we stand firm in the Lord? What does “in this manner” mean?

I think it means to stand in grace.

Not trying to earn God’s acceptance through our own efforts. Not clinging to our own “report card” of righteousness or our own credentials in order to prove ourselves worthy of him.

But leaving that all behind and simply pursuing our relationship with Jesus. A relationship we already have, because in his grace and love he has taken hold of us and made us his own.

Now out of love, awe, and gratitude for all he’s done for us, we take on his interests, living for him and his kingdom.

More, we do so with the hope and confidence that despite all our sins, struggles, and failings, we will one day see him face to face.

And when we do, we know that we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (Philippians 3:20-21, 1 John 3:1-2)

That’s standing in grace.

And that’s how I want to live.

How about you?

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Philippians Devotionals

Working out our salvation

Walking with God

Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling… (Philippians 2:12)

I was thinking today on what it means to work out our salvation.

I think Paul explains his meaning more clearly in chapter 3.

He’s not talking about trying to become righteous by his own efforts to keep the law. His righteousness came by faith in Christ’s work on the cross for him. (Philippians 3:9)

So what does he mean by working out his salvation?

  1. Pursuing his relationship with Jesus. Knowing Christ became his ultimate pursuit in life above all other things.
  2. Becoming more and more like Jesus. Paul wanted to experience Jesus’ resurrection power in his life, becoming like his Lord.

    But before he could be raised with Jesus, he had to die with Jesus. Just as Jesus suffered and died to sin once for all time, Paul needed to learn to die to sin once and for all so that he could live for God (Romans 6:10-11).

    And by Paul joining in Christ’s sufferings, he showed that he was through with sin, no longer living for himself, but for God’s will. (1 Peter 4:1-2)

That’s what it means to work out our salvation. And it’s an ongoing process. A process that Paul admitted he had not fully completed yet.

He still fell short. He still hadn’t arrived.

But Jesus in his grace had taken hold of him. And so Paul strove to take full hold of the salvation he had received, working out his salvation with fear and trembling.

I marvel at the fact that this same Jesus that took hold of Paul has taken hold of me. And so like Paul, I’m striving to take full hold of the salvation I have received, working out that salvation with fear and trembling.

I still fall short. I still haven’t arrived. But with full confidence in the grace and love God has given me, I say with Paul,

Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

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Isaiah Devotionals

Blessed

blessing

All who see them will recognize 
that they are a people the LORD has blessed. 

I rejoice greatly in the LORD, 
I exult in my God; 
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation 
and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness…” (Isaiah 61:9-10)

Usually when I read this passage, most of my focus is on the first three verses because Jesus applied them to himself. (Luke 4:18-21)

But today my eyes focused on verses 9-10. And I realized just how blessed I really am.

I see all my flaws, all my failures, all my sins. But by his grace, God has clothed me with his salvation and Christ’s righteousness.

Father, I am blessed.  I rejoice in you, I exult in you, because you have clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me in Christ’s robe of righteousness.

I didn’t have to make those clothes. I didn’t have to buy them. Jesus, you purchased them with your blood and you clothed me. All I can say is, “Thank you.”

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Romans Devotionals

The newness of life

empty grave and grave clothes

Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

I like the translation “newness of life” here.

I don’t want to walk around in the tomb surrounded by the stench of sin and death. I want to breathe in the fresh air of righteousness and life.

I don’t want to be walking around clothed with the decaying clothes of sin. I want to wear the new clothes of Christ’s righteousness.

Imagine Jesus raising Lazarus and saying, “Come out,” only for Lazarus to answer, “No, thank you. I like walking around in this tomb in my grave clothes.”

I don’t want to do that.

Rather, breathing in the fresh air and wearing my new clothes, I want to present myself to God as a weapon, an instrument he can use to battle Satan who has enslaved so many people.

Like Isaiah, I want to stand before God and present myself to him, saying, “Here am I, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

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2 Samuel Devotionals

How God sees us

2 Samuel

…[God] rescued me because he delighted in me.

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; he repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands. (2 Samuel 22:20-21)

Those words are amazing when you look at David’s life, because there were so many times he failed.

And yet he could say things like,

For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not turned from my God to wickedness.

Indeed, I let all his ordinances guide me and have not disregarded his statutes.

I was blameless before him and kept myself from my iniquity. (22-24)

I don’t think David had forgotten about his failures. Nor do I think he was making light of them.

But he did understand God’s grace. As he said in another Psalm,

He will not always accuse us or be angry forever.

He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities…

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:9-10, 12)

Years later, God would say through the prophet Isaiah,

I am the one, I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25)

How often, though, do we remember our sins and failures? How often do we beat ourselves up over them?

God has chosen to forget them. He will never bring them up with us again.

And when he sees us, he sees someone holy and blameless in his sight, clothed with Christ’s righteousness.

Our “righteousness” is often imperfect, stained with mixed motivations.

And yet, God in his grace, chooses to accept them just as he accepted David’s.

Not only, that, he delights in us.

So let us sing with David,

The Lord lives—blessed be my rock!
God, the rock of my salvation, is exalted. (47)

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Philippians Devotionals

Not there yet

PhilippiansHope

Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. (Philippians 3:12-15)

As Christians, we are always growing, but as long as we are on this earth, we will never “arrive.”

Paul certainly never thought of himself as having “arrived.” But each day he sought to know Jesus more and to become more like him in every way.

But even in his “reaching forward” and “pursuing,” Paul remembered two things.

First, he was accepted by God not because of his own righteousness, but because of Christ’s. By Paul putting his faith in Jesus and His work on the cross, Christ’s record of righteousness became Paul’s record of righteousness (9).

Put another way, his “report card of righteousness” showed all “A”s .

And because of that, he was not striving to attain God’s love and acceptance. He already had it.

Rather, he was overjoyed that God had taken hold of him and had a plan for his life. And out of that joy, he wanted to take hold of everything in life God had prepared for him.

Second, he remembered all his efforts would not be in vain. That though he would never attain perfection in this world, the day would come when he would become just like the Lord he loved. (21)

Paul lived each day in that hope.

Let us all live in with that same hope as well, living in his grace each day, growing to be more like Jesus, and taking hold of the good plan for which he took hold of us.

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Psalms Devotionals

Because Jesus went before us

Psalms

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart. (Psalm 24:3-4)

If you think about it, those are weighty words.

Who, after all, has completely clean hands before the Lord? Who has never done a sinful thing?

And who has a perfectly pure heart before the Lord? Who has never struggled with wrong thoughts and wrong motives?

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?

By those standards: no one.

Only one person ever perfectly fulfilled those requirements: Jesus.

He then went to the cross to pay the price for our sins. Upon doing so, he ascended to heaven, entered the holy temple there with his own blood. And because he went before us, the author of Hebrews writes,

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:19-23)

No, none of us are worthy to ascend the mountain of the Lord. None of us are worthy to stand in his holy place.

But because of Jesus, we receive blessing from the Lord. And the greatest blessing, is that the God our salvation clothes us with Christ’s righteousness. (Psalm 24:5)

So with full confidence, let us draw near to him!