Apart From The Law

 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all^[h]who believe. ~ Romans 3:21-22

So we're all sinners and we all stand condemned under the law. The previous verse has told us 'by law is knowledge of sin'. This is the purpose of the law,  to show us our inability and to lead us to Christ.

Interestingly it is the very thing that the tltree we ate from offered; a knowledge of good and evil.

So we know instinctively what is good and bad.

The law purports to show us a way back into righteousness and God's favour, for those bothered by this state of affairs,  but what it actually does is to highlight our very inability to do so.

And then Jesus turns up,  and in his lifetime (in regards to his 33 years on earth),  as I have previously stated,  raises the bar even further.

So here is the state of affairs; we are sinners,  incapable of pleasing God,  Incapable of keeping the law,  and (if we actually could keep it) incapable also of honouring the spirit of the law by policing our interior life. We stand condemned by our actions,  our hearts,  our thoughts and the law.

In short,  we are screwed.

Or at least we would be.

We would be screwed without Jesus.

Hallelujah. The righteousness being revealed,  exposed and flaunted is apart from the law!

It never ceases to amaze me how when the righteousness I could not obtain by myself,  or by keeping God's commands has been bestowed on me, I still keep trying to be good enough.

There is only one way we are declared righteous and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.

You cannot earn it.

You cannot buy it.

You cannot keep it by effort.

It is a gift.

And the moment you stop trying to earn it and simply receive it, is the moment the healing can begin.

Christmas is looming.  If I gave my ten year old son a new X-box as a gift (yeah right,  I might stretch to a game) and his response was to leave it in the box,  go outside,  take up a bucket and sponge and start to wash my car,  I would be a little perplexed.

If on going out to speak to him and asking him what he was doing, he were to say 'I want to be worthy to receive such a gift', firstly I would laugh. And when I was done laughing I would hug him. And I would say to him,

Darling,  don't be so stupid.  It's a gift.  You don't have to earn it. I gave it to you to make you happy.  I gave it to you because I love you. I want you to enjoy it.  Now go back inside,  take it out of the box and start enjoying it.

Can I be frank?

I think we make God laugh an awful lot.

This righteousness is apart from the law.  It cannot be earned. Not ever. It can only be enjoyed,  and that takes a certain mentality.

Let's stop disqualifying ourselves and simply recieve the free gift of righteousness.  After all,  although it is free to us,  that does not mean that it is not costly. And just as I would be hurt if the X-Box stayed in its packaging,  I believe Jesus would be saddened by our not enjoying the gift he paid the ultimate price for, in order to bless us.

Father,  we recieve your free gift of righteousness,  thanking Jesus,

This day,
And all days,

Amen.