We often hear that the distinction between religion and Christianity is that the former is man seeking to make himself acceptable to God, whereas Christianity is God making man acceptable to Him. This is absolutely true, but what we often fail to realise is how deep this goes. By our own nature, man is rebellious against God. No one has to teach us to sin, as we do so of our own volition. But what of righteousness? This takes work.
But what motivates us to do this work? As it turns out, even this is a work of God. When we come to Him, we may be rotten to the very core. We might think His commands are extreme, unreasonable, maybe even cruel. But as I like to say, as God continues His work, we will almost feel as if His commands were our idea!
Righteousness is a gift from God, not only in the sense that, through the Gospel, He treats us as if we were as perfect as Christ, but also in the sense that He moulds us in His image. We are no longer just counted as righteous, but He gives us the power to live out that righteousness. The old sinner is choking its last breaths. It throws a few desperate punches, but in Jesus, its days are numbered. We learn to be righteous, and we learn to love to be righteous. The sins we once loved, we begin to despise, and the good works we once viewed as a chore become a reward in and of themselves. As my brother, the drummer, once said, it ceases to be "oh no, I have to", and instead becomes "awesome, I get to".
Let us praise God for His gifts. We are unfinished works, which He is bringing to completion. The day is coming when God's plans will be accomplished, and as His children, we will be a part of that. Perfect, blameless, righteous, we will bear His image as we were supposed to. Praise God.