"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Isaiah 64:6
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no man can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
Something that I love about scripture is that no matter how many times I read a passage or verse, it can always touch me in a different way. A passage that I may have read a hundred times can suddenly mean something completely different from what I have always understood it to mean. I experienced that this morning after reading Isaiah 64:6 and then Ephesians 2:8-9. The two verses above have been engrained in my memory since I was nine years old and was required to learn them for Awana. Since my Awana days, they have continued to be important. I learned to quote them as part of the “7 Facts of Life” during my families’ weekly family worship. Every mission trip that I went on required evangelism training of which I would again memorize them. Without even knowing it, the familiarity led to a lack of appreciation. I knew them as a form of evangelism. I knew that they were essential towards salvation. It was something to quote when leading someone to a saving relationship with Christ.
This morning I read Isaiah 64:6 and it suddenly had a different meaning. No longer did I read it thinking, “This is for those who are about to accept Christ so that they can understand that they are saved by grace and not by works.” Instead I realized that it was for me! All of my “righteous acts” are filthy rags! Evangelism, serving, praying for others, memorizing scripture, having a quite time, fasting, going to church – It is nothing! It is all worthless! None of those things can make me more “saved”. If I never went to church, never served, and never memorized scripture, I could still be saved if I accepted Christ through faith - because I am saved by grace alone. All of my righteous acts do not make me any better than anyone else.
Please don’t misunderstand this. All of those “righteous” acts are great! They are evidence that the Holy Spirit is living inside of someone. They are fruit. If someone claimed to be “saved” but had no evidence, no fruit, they could be deceiving themselves by claiming something that they do not actually have. And, “righteous” acts such as praying; having a quiet time, and reading the Bible do bring us closer to Christ. That is how we cultivate an intimate and personal relationship with Him. But those things do not make Christ love us more. God loved us before we ever loved him. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Knowing our deepest darkest thoughts, knowing our ugliest secrets and sins – Christ died for us! Christ has already given us everything. He holds nothing back. It is up to us to accept his grace.
Isn’t that so freeing!!!?? There is NOTHING that we could do to separate Christ’s love from us! We do not need to tire ourselves out always trying to please Christ! We are saved by grace alone! All of our righteous acts are simply an act of worship to our king; they are an expression of our love towards Him!
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
