“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5

As a Christian, it is important to remember that our righteousness does not come from our good deeds or actions. Rather, it comes from the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Today’s verse from Titus 3:5 reminds us that it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we are righteous because we do good things for others or attend church regularly. However, this type of thinking is flawed and ultimately leads to pride and self-righteousness. Instead, we should strive to be conscious that our righteousness comes solely from God.

In the four gospels, Jesus had ongoing debates with the Pharisees. Beyond their covetous lifestyle and wrong interpretation of scripture, a major challenge He had with them was their self-righteousness. Several times He warned the disciples of their doctrine with their perception of righteousness as a major theme of such warning (Matthew 16:6). See the following instances; John 8.3-12. They brought a woman to Him, saying she deserved death because of her sins. First of all, notice they brought the woman alone. Next, they also had sinned; hence it is not in their place to condemn anyone.

Ezekiel 36:25 says, “I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.”

The only one who could condemn did not do the same. Also, Luke 15 parables came because the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with ‘sinners and publicans.’ This is the same thing that happened in Luke 7:36-50. These instances happened because the Pharisees thought they were righteous, so they pre-qualified themselves. Please bear with me once more to see Luke 18:9-14. Here, Jesus cites Pharisees in His parable to show that we are not to trust in ourselves but in the Lord. Jesus Himself had clearly instructed His disciples that their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees (Matthew 5.20). Paul also mentioned this in Romans 10.3. How many times have believers fallen into this trap too?

Whether you are enjoying the utmost bliss in your fellowship with God or you are going through some of the toughest faith challenges you could ever have, you must be fixed on His righteousness, not yours. God knows that we could never have met His requirements on our merit. That is exactly why He gave us Christ’s (His) own righteousness. In Him was the righteousness of the law fulfilled. You and I, today, are the recipient of God’s righteousness. We do away with the righteousness that is as a filthy rag (Isaiah 64.6) and hang on to God’s righteousness freely given in Christ Jesus. Amen. Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Amen.

Prayer:
1. Father, I thank you for your righteousness; I do not hold on to any righteousness of myself but you.
2. Holy Spirit reminded me of what Jesus has done and helped me to put my trust in Him. Amen.