Dear Friend,
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. – 1Peter 3:18a NIV
While righteousness brings us close to God, looking at our mistakes pushes us away. However, God’s perfect love brings us back in.
Sometimes we want to pray, but we feel “bad” inside. Guilt, shame or condemnation can cause us to want to hide from God instead of run to Him. We look at ourselves and think, “I can’t go in looking like this.” So we try to “butter” God up to receive us again.
“Hey God, how are you? Hey, thanks for my house, and my clothes, and for helping Suzy down the street, and for my uncle’s dog…” We ooze with randomness, but inside our hearts, we are crying out loudly, saying, “Love me! Love me! I messed up. Please help me!
Friends, that right there, is a prayer. Don’t bottle up what your heart needs to address. Don’t save it for a time when you “feel” holier. You don’t have to beat around the bush with God or try to earn your way back into His good graces. You are already there.
It’s not your righteousness that allows you to enter the throne of God to receive mercy and grace. It’s about the righteousness of Jesus that God chose to place on you. And when you receive His gift of righteousness, you wear it like a robe. When God looks at you, He sees you through Jesus’ righteousness.
This means that you can come to Him when you feel clean. It means you can come to Him when you feel dirty—especially when you feel dirty.
In Mark 2:16-17 it says: But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him (Jesus) eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor–sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Does that make anyone else want to cry but me? Wow! I love Jesus.
It is His goodness and love on us that WELCOMES us in, not by our works so no man can boast. (Eph 2:8-9) If you were the kid sitting alone at the lunch table feeling ugly, sinful and unwanted by everyone else, Jesus would come seek you out in the crowd and come sit with you.
You have God’s ear. You have His heart.
What are you itching to say to God today? What is nagging at you? Just say it to Him.
His love for you is not dependent on what you say. You wear Jesus’ righteousness, not your own. Your own does you no good, because let’s face it; it’s not that great anyway. But because Jesus was perfect and sinless, it is through Him that we have the right to go to God.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Heb 4:16 (NIV)
It is His love on you.
It is His righteousness that covers you and carries you into the presence of God.
So, what do you want to say to God today? Get it out, and let’s move on in the gift of righteousness.
Prayer: God, I release all guilt and shame that I feel from the things I have thought and done. (Tell Him what is on your mind now) . I ask for your forgiveness, and that you remember those things no more. I thank you for the gift of righteousness that you chose to give me. I accept it now. . . and tomorrow . . . and the next day! Your goodness and love will never leave me. Thank you God! In Jesus’ mighty name I pray. Amen!
O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Psalm 86:5 (NLT)
