Christ's Righteousness As My Own

I'm a pretty nasty person in my eyes, and in most other peoples eyes. I continue to sin, and have pretty much given up on being perfect. I feel like Paul when he says "I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate!"

I am always doing something wrong, something that I do out of impulse, like speaking wrongly to my Mom, acting disrespectfully with my Dad, saying something I know I shouldn't, being a rear to my sister, etc., etc. It's emotionally draining! It's hard to talk to God when you've done soooo many things that you know He's displeased with. Think about that.

Here's a glimpse into the brilliant wandering mind of Joshua Privette:

Let's say your Dad gives you a list of rules to follow and says "Son, if you can keep all these rules and live accordingly, I will lavish good things upon you and you will be so happy." and you say "Okay Dad! I'll do it!" and so for the next two days you follow all of the rules.

BUT... one of the rules is: Do not covet. Uh-oh. As you're hanging out with your friend, you start talking about a girl. She's a girl you both know, and She's shown some interest in you. You adore her. And you plan to ask her out tomorrow. You haven't told your friend (let's call him "Jared" for fun) that you're going to. So you're talking to Jared and He says "Hot Dog! I asked this girl (let's call her Rachel) out today and She said yes. My Goodness, She is fine!" You think "What a dirty rotten friend Jared is! I can't believe he asked Rachel out! Doesn't he know I like her?! I've liked her since I was like, 10!! Boy, if I can't have her, I don't want him to either." So you start Plotting ways (in the left lobe of your brain) to break them up. An alarm goes off in your Dad's office that is conveniently labeled "Joshua is breaking our agreement" And you know it. So you say "$#!% I can't believe I broke the agreement!" And then you think "GAH! I just broke it again! (one of the rules was no cuss words) Do you really want to rush in and have a "chat" with your Dad just then? I wouldn't. I would be kind of scared. But did you know that your Dad (let's call him God) would say "Joshua, I'm gonna whip your rear, and don't ever do that again, but I know you're human and have human tendencies, so let's get over it and move on. I still love you and will still lavish great things upon you, just because you're my son."

See!? When God looks at you after you sin, he doesn't see your sin! He sees Jesus' righteousness! Instead of being tremulous after we sin we should go RUNNING back to him as fast as we can praying for forgiveness. It only prolongs our own misery to wait and be afraid of what God will say. I just found that out. I couldn't wait to tell.

Haul Booty Back to God