Philippians 3:8b-9 “I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

It’s not that God doesn’t want us try to be good and live a life of love. He would have us put our whole heart into it. It’s just that we really, really stink at it. You know Isaiah’s observation, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Have you ever tried to wash the car, or wash the windows, and you tried to use the dirty water in the bucket and the dirty rag too long? At the end you aren’t actually cleaning anything. You are simply moving the dirt around, and when the water dries there are all the spots and streaks.

Isaiah points out that we are unclean (Is. 64:6). It taints our righteous acts. On the surface it looks like clean kindness. But the water is dirty, tainted with our selfish motivations. “Do I look good doing this? Does this make up for my indulgence yesterday, or can I bank it against a little self-gratification tomorrow? I would rather be doing almost anything else, but then I would feel guilty. I think I’m just a little better than your average Joe.”

But to know Christ is to let him throw out the dirty water and hang up the dirty rag at the cross. It is to receive credit not for our own streaked and spotted labors, but his pure love and unsullied mercies, his sincere obedience and selfless service. It is to be righteous not because we live that way, but because for Jesus’ sake God has decided to see us that way.

It is never a righteousness we have earned. It is always a righteousness we have received, received by faith. It is to know Christ not first as my example, but as my substitute, making me look clean and holy and perfect to my God before I have even done a single thing. It is always to look away from myself, and look away from my life, and look to Jesus who makes his righteousness my own.

Doesn’t his life, his righteousness, look infinitely better than yours and mine? If you have to stand before God, isn’t that what you want him to see? Wouldn’t it be great if you could see yourself that way? In Christ Jesus, you can. When we know Jesus as our Lord, we see him replacing our righteousness with God’s own.