Romans 3:21-23
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (ESV)
My wife can tell you that one of my worst habits is to leave my dirty clothes on the floor of our home office. This obvious lack of self-control to not put dirty clothes where they belong creates a burden that could easily be eliminated. Before long, there are articles of dirty clothing scattered all throughout the room. I can see dirty socks, t-shirts, and shoes in very odd places in a very cluttered space. Primarily, I will spend the bulk of time in this space, and before long without picking up my things the room can began to be covered in my own aroma. It is so easy to develop these unhealthy habits. At first, it’s as innocent as a misappropriation of God’s word towards a selfish ambition or something we see as small. But soon enough we have a load of clutter scattered all over our thoughts which cause us to clothe ourselves in garments not washed through the Word of truth. When we don’t develop a healthy habit of placing truth and lies where they belong, we can begin to believe in falsehoods. There are so many falsehoods that arise when we attempt to live for Christ outside the guidance of His Word. This begins to affect the way God has revealed himself, because we adopt ideas from culture that have never been blessed by God.
Bringing unbiblical ideas to the worship of God has always been at the core problem of humanity. This was a pivotal reason God gave Moses the Law. The people of God had a problem of looking at every other culture around them and sought to borrow customs that seemed healthy but were not. In fact, what the chosen people of God didn’t realize was that their God was the very standard they looked for in others. They brought uncleanliness into an unflawed system. Which brings us to Paul, who attempted to follow the same pattern set by his ancestors. The Pharisees and Sadducees were masters at adding to the law of God. There interpretations of what God said and meant was an endless diatribe of bondage to God’s people. But Christ was sent to fulfill the law of God and transfer his record to our own. Paul knew all too well that he could not earn his own righteousness. Those that believe now possess the righteousness needed for a relationship with God. This truth is foolishness to the world around us, because we are taught to believe that we need to strive hard for everything that we can as to show others how hard we worked.
May we never fall into the trap of bringing the dirty laundry of the world into the beauty of the Gospel. And may I also remember to put the dirty clothes where they belong.
Photo by Muhammadtaha Ibrahim Ma’aji on Pexels.com
Rants and Ramblings 