Chasing After Righteousness
Your Search for a Justifiable Life
This post is part of a series gathered under the tag Becoming a Cultivator. Lord willing, I hope to publish these posts in a journal/book format. You can read the previous post here.
In a fallen world, apart from Christ, everyone is chasing after the elusive feeling of being “enough.” Our definitions of enough vary as widely as our physical appearances, but we all chase after it in the hopes that we can achieve some sort of respect, admiration, or love and appreciation from others. The late Tim Keller suggested our identity is found in our answers to three questions:
To what do I aspire?
What am I worth?
Who gets to say?
We all strive to find the answers to these questions, consciously or subconsciously, whether we realize it or not. Collectively, they form our sense of identity.
We strive to find answers to these questions because we all want to live justifiable lives. Each of us seeks the approval of a person, people, or an institution. You might say, “That’s not true of me. I am my judge,” to which I would reply, “You are seeking your approval. You are the person you are subjecting yourself to.”
Your answer to Keller’s first question, “To what do I aspire?” reveals what you think you need to do to be righteous. Your aspiration reveals the things you think you have to achieve or the life you need to live to be approved and finally feel as though you are enough.
How so? Everyone aspires to achieve or accomplish something because they believe that when their aspiration is fulfilled, the person, people, or institution they’ve given the power to say if they are worthy will declare them worthy, and worthiness is synonymous with righteousness.
Therefore, everyone has a sense of righteousness, even if they don’t use or fully understand the term. We all seek to be considered justified by someone.
Teenagers seek to be “cool,” and adults strive to keep up with the Joneses. Everyone has a standard they’re chasing, and they’re chasing it because they believe it will make them righteous in the eyes of someone or something.
The question you must ask yourself is not, “Do I chase after righteousness?” Instead, you must ask yourself, “Who gets to say if I am righteous?” To put it another way, who are you hoping says, “This is, [insert your name], in whom I am well pleased?”
Matthew 3:16–17: And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Jesus, the One in whom God was well pleased, lived out God’s righteousness, became sin for us, suffered the consequences of sin, and was raised from the dead, conquering sin and death so that through faith in Him, we can receive His righteousness as our righteousness before God.
Romans 3:21–26: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The Good News of Jesus Christ, the Gospel, teaches us that apart from faith in Christ, we are never enough. Our sins and shortcomings will never add up to being righteous before God. We can only be made right with God through faith in Christ alone. We must acknowledge our sins, repent, and believe.
When you receive Christ as your Savior, you no longer need to worry about being enough or about achieving your Salvation or identity because they are gracious gifts given to you by God. In Christ, you can stop trying to be enough because you already are enough for God.
Ironically, even the most mature brothers and sisters in Christ go through seasons of life in which they strive to find their identity in success, status, wealth, and the approval of others. That’s why the ultimate purpose of this journal is to teach you to rest in Christ.
Prayer: Lord, reveal to me who I have decided gets to say if I am righteous. I repent for all the ways I seek righteousness other than in Christ. I praise You, Father, for Your infinite grace and desire to receive me as Your beloved child through Jesus. Thank You, Lord, for the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness available to all who repent and believe Jesus died for their sins and was resurrected, conquering sin and death.
Reflection:
What impact do Tim Keller’s three identity formation questions have on where you attempt to find your identity?
At this point in your life, what person, people, or institution have you given the power to determine your worth? Why is the opinion and judgment of that person, people, or institution so important to you?
How does the phrase “This is my, [insert your name], in whom I am well pleased” and the reality that God can only be pleased with you through faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross impact your thoughts on what you should be living for?
This week, what is one situation where you can rest in God’s approval instead of chasing someone else’s?