Chilling Righteousness

A week ago I had just come back from a trip to Rome. Flying miles up in the air, one of the thoughts that crossed my mind was, “How do I know the engineers did a good job building this plane?” What would it take for a plane to fall apart? Could a plane fall out of the sky if someone made just one mistake? How big a mistake would it have to be?

 

The proof that the engineers did their job well is that the plane flew all the way from Rome to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to Newark. It achieved its purpose.

 

It’s one thing to get from Rome to Newark. It’s another thing entirely to get from Louisville to heaven. There’s a way to do it. It’s called righteousness. But the plane of righteousness requires flawless construction with precision far beyond that required for a plane from Rome to Newark. If one bolt falls out, the plane of righteousness goes down.

 

When the Israelites first received the law, the responsibility for making sure of their righteousness was based on their faithful obedience: And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. – Deut. 6:25.

 

The chilling phrase here is “if we are careful to obey all this law.” All. Not some, much of, or most. All. No margin for error. Paul writes that the Israelites made the mistake of believing they were up to the challenge of establishing their own righteousness (Romans 9:31-32). No one can live up to that challenge (Romans 3:10)!

 

The good news is that no one needs to build his own plane of righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. – Romans 10:4. He lived without sin and died a cursed death so that we could be righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus Christ has become our flawless way to heaven, a righteousness that will not fall out of the sky on the way there. We can set aside the chilling thought of building our own righteousness and replace it with the amazing realization that Christ has built it already!

 

Father, thank You for sending Jesus to be my righteousness, and not just mine, but my family’s, my friends’, my co-workers’, my neighbors’, and the whole world’s—the righteousness of all who trust in Him!