Righteousness,yours or His

We as human beings, living in the world created by our loving Father, to have a relationship with His creation and most importantly with Himself. He determined what right and wrong were, good and evil. It was all right and all good until one day Adam and Eve fell out of His Grace and determined for themselves what good and evil are. Even this day, if we're not careful, we could fall into the same pit. We may strife all we can, but all our good is a far lesser good than God's. If I decide that I can be good, I may on the natural man level good, in fact even the best but not at His level. I may work hard, isolate myself, or even deny all of my carnal desires but at no point will I reach God's goodness, I will never be righteous in His sight. Consider what I would like to call, the story of the cleaner, which goes as follows. There was a man going through the paper for classifieds, looking for work. He went through some well paying jobs, most of which required certain qualifications, he unfortunately had none. He was just looking for something to keep him going, something he could do regardless of the income. He was not expecting much, he almost fainted as he saw one of the adverts, "wanted, a cleaner, no qualifications required, job pays very well". He couldn't believe his eyes, and immediately rushed to the nearest public phone to secure the job, and boy was he in luck. He was going to go for an interview and if he would succeed, would be hired immediately. The interview was to test his cleaning skills, all material would be provided on site, so he only had to being himself so to speak. So the day of the interview came and he got into the empty room which he was instructed to clean. He cleaned it so well, that he even felt proud of himself, the boss should be glad, he thought to himself. The boss eventually came, after a long wait. He greeted and congratulated him, the place was spotless. So, he then did something unexpected, searched his pockets and took out a magnifying glass. He signalled for the potential employee to come as he shook his head in disappointment. "Come look"; he said, look at all this filth. "I cannot hire you, unless you do a better job tomorrow, now go". So he went, the next day, it was the same, but this time the cleaner brought a magnifying glass with him, and under it managed to ensure it was clean. He was now convinced he would get the job, until the boss arrived with a portable microscope. Needless to say, he failed the job interview like everyone else, because what the cleaner considered clean does not apply to the master in the same way. What this story teaches is that we might see goodness in our eyes and agree that certain things are right but unfortunately fail at God's level. Which is where it really matters, God wants us to be as perfect as He is. The bad news is, we cannot no matter how much we try, gain such righteousness on our own. Many men will proclaim their own goodness, like the Pharisee vs tax collector, whoever exalts themselves will be humbled. The more I believe I'm righteous, the farther I am from God. I could stand next to any human and be declared righteous but will be like a drop in an ocean compared to God. God is light, and light came into the world to expose human deeds for what they really are, God did not make us evil, we were al ready evil and until we realized that, we would never change. Consider someone going into an event at night, they had to put on their clothes in the dark because of load shedding. They assume their clothes are clean and walk towards it, there's a light at the party, lots of people and you don't want to look filthy. As she gets closer to the light, she start noticing some spots, and wipes them off. But soon she realizes that, the closer she got, the filthier she looked. It is impossible to see God for who He is, and feel the exact same way you felt about yourself. The when we start seeing ourselves the way God sees us, is when we could agree with His plan to change us. Our deeds might be impressive to ourselves and other but not God. God only accepts righteousness which matches His, since we couldn't attain it. Jesus took out all of our unrighteousness, not only that but put His own righteousness in us so that we are presented to Him as perfect children of God, not requiring any more righteousness, having righteousness which cannot be added into. If it can be increased, then it's not perfect, if it's perfect it's not mine, it can only be His. This is good, I don't have to fight a losing battle but I'll fight a war which has already been won. We are more than conquerors through Christ. We are told in the Book of Peter, to be holy just as God is holy. While Paul says that all sinned and have come short to His Glory, Isaiah said all our attempts to do good has been unto God as filthy rags, and last but not least. Jesus said, if your righteousness does not exceed that of Pharisees, you shall in no way see the kingdom of God. These scripture seem all contradictory and chaotic, they seem to lack direction as one says this and the other says that. Peter and Jesus both say we should be holy, Paul says we are not holy, and Isaiah says we cannot be holy no matter how hard we try. The standard of righteousness or holiness expected from these speakers can and cannot be reached depending on where it comes and from and where it it set. It's how I see myself and others, how others see me and how I see God and how God sees me which determines how holy or unholy I am. This might get complex before it gets easy. Let's start off by removing God from the system, let's say God doesn't exist. This would mean that we set as people our own definition of holiness and righteousness, it would ultimately mean no one is better than the other because what is holy for one will not be holy for the other person and what each does is ultimately their own business. And no one has a right to judge the other because each lives according to their standard, the atheistic unrealistic utopia. I'm this system, the definition of holiness will be determined on how I see myself only, it wouldnot matter how others see me, if I say I am righteous then I am righteous. The other possibility would be to have a collective decide on what is and is not right, this is the system used mostly in this era. We decide and a society what is and is not right and live accordingly, either as a culture or constitutional country, some will be guilty of certain crimes, which may be more serious than others and so, we will have those who are by those standards more righteous than others. The more christocentric system would have God as the ultimate Source of righteousness. Still there are those who by observing His rules would be able to follow them more accurately than other would. And we would then start comparing of course, "if there is a heaven and so and so makes it there, I should definitely do that to". This would apply in a system under law not under Grace and even if by Law, the Law would have to be relative not absolute. By this I mean, you would be judged according to your works compared to others not by works compared to God. The scariest reality we have to face is that our righteousness is not being compared to others, and even if it was we may havd not made it, because we are not as holy as we think we are and others aren't as bad as we make them out to be. We are our own greatest defending attorneys when it comes to justifying our own actions and we are quicker to conclude the worst in others. We have a propensity to feel we're closer to God than we actually are, and others are further than they might actually be. In reality, it is futile to compare ourselves with others whether believers or non believers, because ultimately Who sits on the throne will not be looking at me in the midst of others but will look at me and compare Himself to Him and I will not stand a chance. It's easy to live as a Christian without conviction, because to be reminded of our unrighteousness would be waking up each day depressed. And some would take this depression to continue in sin than getting out, because we know, no matter how hard I try, I will not reach His perfect righteousness. If God compares Himself to me, and I compare myself to anything or anyone else but Him, I would be doing myself a grand injustice. In essence I should compare myself to Him before He does that for me, I should be in judgement in this world in my own time than by His. Because we are all going to be judged anyway, and while we are standing in front of the mirror of the Law on a daily basis, we should strife to ensure that we do the same to Him. That on judgementday ,we stand before God as mirrors of Him. Imago Deus, the image of God through Jesus Christ, perfect in righteousness. It is better to live in this world being judged by God for our entire lives than to be judged by Him in eternity. The purpose of God being judgemental toward us now is so that we may evade being judged latter. Some would choose to live without conviction because it seems more convenient. And then compare themselves to others to give themselves a bit of reassurance, if so and so goes to church or if so and so is a committed Christian then God should be as pleased as He is about him or her as about me, because quite frankly I am a better person than them. In the book of proverbs we are told, every man believes that he is righteous, ask anyone and most will proclaim they're own goodness. But ask anyone who's witnessed God's goodness they'll proclaim their own unrighteousness. From Peter feeling unworthy to be crucified like Jesus, to Paul calling himself the worst sinner, to the prophet Isaiahs woe unto me, and Job's I repent in dust and ashes. It is impossible to see how God sees you and still say I am a good person, I'm not that bad. The closer these people grew to God, the more they realized their own shortcomings. As we move out the darkness and get closer and closer to light, every step we take shows something about us we would not have otherwise noticed. It does not mean our clothes weren't dirty, it means we weren't close enough to God to notice. And each time I feel I am righteous, I should get closer to Him to see myself for I really am. Each time I get to know God for Who He is, I inevitably learn something about me I did not know. It's like when Jesus asked, Whom do man say I am? Peter answered you are the Christ, and Jesus praised Him and told him who he is, you are the rock and upon this Rock I will build my church⚓