"The Righteousness That God Requires" Ever since the devil convinced Adam and Eve that they did not need God and they disobeyed God, mankind has been eating the bitter fruit of their rebellion.  Blinded in his pride and sin, finite man is still deceived, believing that he knows better than Almighty God.  God would be justified in wiping His wayward, ungrateful creation from the face of the earth, yet God is patient and compassionate.  God “remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103: 14). In God’s perfect timing, He sent His Son Jesus to show us the Father, and then die on the cross for our sins, making the way for us back to the Father.  Jesus came to “proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61: 1).  You and I were born captives, the prisoners of Satan’s death camp.  Jesus paid a terrible price for our emancipation, and it is only through His blood that we are justified and declared righteous: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption…and as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrew 9: 12, 27-28).     This scripture clearly states that you and I have an appointment with death followed by an appointment with God for judgment, giving an account of the deeds done in our bodies while we lived on the earth (Romans 14:12).  What will be your plea before a Holy God?  The Bible declares that we are guilty and without excuse, and that every mouth will be stopped before Him, unable to justify ourselves (Roman 3:19).  What is the righteousness that God prescribes?  Is it being religious?  Is it acknowledging a “higher power?”  Is it our good deeds outweighing our bad deeds?  Is it our ability or inability to keep the Ten Commandments?   Performing religious acts to appease God so that we can live our own way does not impress God at all: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10: 3).  And what is the righteousness of God?  Christ alone is the fulfillment of God’s requirement for our justification: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”(Acts 4:12).  Man’s sinful nature desires self-mastery rather than submitting to God.  This, too, is a deception.  God’s Word declares that man is either a “slave to righteousness or a slave to sin” (Romans 6: 16-20).  If we say we have not sinned, then we are deceived and make God a liar (1 John 1: 8-10).  If we say that there are many paths that lead to God, and we must find our own way, the Bible states: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).  If we say that we believe in God, again, God’s Word admonishes: “You believe that there is one God.  You do well.  Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19)  Acknowledgment of God’s existence is not saving faith—the demons are inhabitants of hell. The crux of the matter of salvation is: “Are we willing to die to ourselves: our hopes, our dreams, our desires, and live to God?”  God is the Giver of Life, and when we give back to Him the life that He has given to us, then He will give us “life and life more abundantly” (John 10:10).  Christianity is not a club of self-righteous clones, but a family of believers that have been overcome by the love of God, enjoying life as it was meant to be lived: for the glory of God.  Living for God is an adventure.  We will never be the unique individual that He created us to be unless we are born again with His Holy Spirit living inside of us.  Like the many cuts in a diamond that reflect the brilliance of the precious stone, we are all individual facets of God’s image, and collectively, we reflect His magnificent glory.   Salvation in Jesus Christ beautifies every believer. Who is sitting on the throne of your heart—God or self?  In whose righteousness do you trust—the righteousness found in Jesus Christ or self-righteousness?  Your eternal destiny hinges on the answer to these questions.  Faith in Jesus Christ alone covers us with the righteousness required for everlasting life.   “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all of our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…”  (Isaiah 64: 6). “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it”  (Matthew 7: 13-14).