Why do we find it so difficult to accept God’s righteousness as a gift? We certainly realize that our righteousness is hardly a shadow in comparison to His, right?

Then why do we struggle to accept His gift?

Maybe because of the magnitude of the gift. I’ve known some folks (maybe I know him really, really well) who have some difficulty accepting a gift… especially if it is something extremely valuable. If someone wanted to give you a necklace that was the only possession she had that belonged to her deceased mother, would you have difficulty accepting it? Do you realize that it cost God His only son to offer you His righteousness?

And maybe because when we accept such a gift, it “obligates” us to the giver. Certainly not because they intended it so; they gave it as a demonstration of their genuine love for us. But to accept a truly sacrificial gift ties us to the giver forever. We must be willing to accept the relationship that comes with acceptance.

And maybe most of all because of what it will cost us to accept God’s righteousness. We must totally give up our own righteousness. God’s righteousness does not “complete” our righteousness; we must accept the reality that we have no righteousness. That means that I must realize that if you add up all my righteousness, I’m a negative number! When I measure myself with all the rest of the sinners in this world, I’ve convinced myself that I’m a pretty good guy. But when I truly begin to see my holy God, I know I have absolutely no righteousness.

Paul said that regarding righteousness that comes from law, he was faultless. “But now,” he said, “I consider [everything I have been proud of to this point in my life] rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from law, but that which is through faith in Christ- the righteousness which
comes from God and is by faith.”

There is much at stake here. Whose righteousness will you claim when you stand before God?

- Ken Stegall