Jeff Adams

I give up trying to be righteous! Really. I am more convinced than ever that this is what I need to do.

Did you ever know you have to get to sleep because of getting up early? You lay down to sleep and can’t. Someone tells you to relax and you tense up. You don’t fall asleep until you get so tired you stop trying. There is a spiritual parallel here.

This morning I was in Romans 9 where Paul is expressing his burden for his Jewish kinsmen. I’ve read this passage many times. In fact, I remember one time in college a visiting speaker challenged us to read the entire book of Romans every day for a month. In my youthful zeal and innocence I did it! It was a great experience, and I’ve read the book no less than once or twice a year ever since then.

Something clicked today, though, as I let my early morning eyes slide down these opening verses.

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Romans 10:1-4

What happened today is that I didn’t see Jewish zeal to establish their own righteousness; I saw me. The context clearly is Paul’s commentary that the Jews of his day worked hard to be righteous by zealously trying to keep God’s law. They were ignorant of God’s righteousness. The reason the Jews had this problem is not because they were Jews, but because they were human. We all share this malignant malady.

We all have the tendency to try to manufacture our own righteousness. We measure our spirituality, our righteousness, our Christianity or whatever you want to call it by what we do or don’t do. Don’t we? I do. I must confess. No matter how much I understand that this is not the thing to do, I still catch myself doing this either consciously or unconsciously. ARRGGH!

The answer is not what we do. The answer is simply to submit to the righteousness of God. We can’t be righteous no matter how hard we try. We might as well give up. God can be nothing less than righteous, and He doesn’t even have to try. He just is.

The law (the truth and principles in the scriptures that reflect who God is) merely shows us how far short we fall of being righteous like He is. Then Paul says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes.

What does that mean?

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

So how do I make this work? How do I do this? How do I make this real?

That’s just the point. I don’t make this work. I don’t have to do this. I don’t have to make this real. It already is. I just count it so.

I would imagine that to fully understand this reality and submit to God’s righteousness alone is to enter into that rest that is promised to believers in Hebrews 3 and 4. All I know is that I desire for this to be my reality not just once-in-a-while, but constantly.

It’s late, so I’m just going to go to bed, lay down and rest.