Have you noticed that there are few who are righteous in our world today? Actually the number is far less than a few; there are none!
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, no one.” Romans 3:10
So, if none can attain righteousness, why should we even bother trying? Actually, we shouldn’t! The scriptures tell us that our righteousness are as filthy rags. In other words, when we have done all that is humanly possible to attain righteousness, we are assured that pride follows. That pride then becomes a putrid stench in the nostrils of a holy God.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for “he hath clothed me” with the garments of salvation, “he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,” as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10
The righteousness mentioned here is certainly not our own, but rather the righteousness of God. We all should want His favor in the form of His blessings on our life. One reason we should desire His favor is that others will see his blessings come our way. Many times this will cause them to favor us, often for reasons they cannot even explain! The Egyptians began to give their gold and silver jewelry to the people of Israel whom they had previously enslaved. (Exodus 12:36) They had seen God’s favor on Israel.
Every time I have attempted to clothe myself in my own righteousness, I have done so at the cost of losing God’s favor. Choosing my own righteousness was incalculably inadequate. But the righteousness of Christ is all-sufficient. At that point, I had made a choice that displeased my Savior, thus removing his favor. That choice was to allow pride to replace humility, which had also been Satan’s downfall. The perfect antithetical example was of course, Jesus at the cross.
And being found in the fashion of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death—even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:8
If we are going to choose to clothe ourselves in the righteousness of Christ, we must “humble ourselves and become obedient.” We must allow him to “dress us up” in HIS righteousness, otherwise we will always be found lacking.
“… clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5