Trust in the righteousness of Christ

Hebrews 9:27-28 (NLT)

27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

There is one sure thing; everyone at one point in their life will die. It is the end to all relationships in this world. Once death comes we find out life goes on, not as we knew previously, but a new life, an eternal life. It is at this point many will receive God’s mercy and grace of salvation that Christ provided through His death.

[Alison Ritch, of Birmingham, Alabama wrote: My four-year-old, first-born daughter is—in typical first-born fashion—an agonizer. She agonizes over decisions, weighing her options, sometimes paralyzed by the fear of making a choice that will rule something out. A typical example might go like this: She decides she wants juice instead of the water in her glass at breakfast. She comes into the kitchen with her glass of water and asks for juice, but she clutches the glass instead of emptying it in the sink. "I want juice," she says aloud, "but I want my water, too! What if I get thirsty for water? But juice is so sweet and yummy! Oh, what am I going to do?" She had a choice to make. It takes a little extra money to purchase juice, so we always tell the kids they have to choose during breakfast time—it's one or the other. Plus, her little stomach couldn't take both. So there she was, carton in hand while agonizing over her tap water.

It reminds me of how I often come to Christ. I come clutching whatever I'm sure of, whatever I think I have—my righteousness, my things—and ask him for, well, him. I pray, "Lord, fill me with your Spirit. Jesus, I want more of you." But my heart continually goes after what I think will fill me, prove me, justify me, satisfy me. I clutch my reputation, my talents, my possessions. But here's the painful truth: I cannot be filled with Jesus when I won't empty out everything else.

In the third chapter of Philippians, Paul tells the Philippian church that he considers all his former qualifications as garbage because of the far greater worth of knowing Christ. But he doesn't just say that his reasons for "confidence in the flesh" are considered trash in comparison to knowing Christ—although that is certainly true. In verse 8, he writes, "For [Christ's] sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (emphasis mine). Paul knew that if he wanted Christ, he had to throw everything else in the dumpster. Just like—however difficult the choice is—my daughter has to choose between water and juice, we have to choose between Christ's righteousness and our own, Christ's riches or ours. We cannot have both.]

Christ died to take away the sins of many people. However, there are some people who trust in their own beliefs or as the Apostle Paul called it, their own garbage. There is no one greater than Christ to remove the sins of the world. Trust in the righteousness of Christ!