Trust Jesus’ Righteousness

Dear Judah and my future grandchildren,

You will find as you grow older that there is a temptation to think better of yourself than other people.  You must fight this temptation and pray for humility.  God sees us all the same.  We are all sinners in need of Jesus to save us.  The world around you will not do this and they will call you many different names if you do.  Since the people of the world don’t have Jesus as their Lord they will attach their identity and worth to many different things.  

Those things, whatever else they may be, are idols.  They will be cruel rulers of people’s lives, bring division, pain, anger, self-righteousness and all other manner of evil.  Jesus brings love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control and all other manner of the way we should be.

The important thing to remember here is that Jesus brings all that peace or shalom to his children, despite what they are not because of what they are.  That shalom, comes because of Christ’s righteousness that He obtained through His obedience and death on the cross.  He gave us that righteousness freely.  The only condition is that we not trust in our righteousness any more.  In other words, we have to have faith in Christ’s righteousness.

That idea is the great leveler of humanity.  We can’t be better than anyone else.  The only good in us is from Christ.

Never forget that,

Grandpa