Reasonable: Part 1–The Pattern of this World

Also, do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God—what is good, pleasing, and perfect. (Romans 12:2 EHV)**

This is my second favorite verse in the entire Bible (I’ll get to the most favorite one a little later), because it is the essence of the Christian walk summed up in a single verse.

We were saved from sin so that we would stop sinning. We are set apart from the world that either has no interest in Truthseeking or wants to define Truth on its own terms.

However, the life that we were saved from is the one that encompasses the habits we have developed. The later in life that we accept Jesus as Lord, the harder it is to overcome these habits.

We can’t do this without God’s help. We can’t change our own nature. But we can trust in God to do it for us. True worship is recognizing this reality and acting on it. That is why the verse immediately before this one reads:

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God—this is a reasonable act of worship for you. (Romans 12:1 MOUNCE)

Reasonable

Romans 12 begins with an exhortation to respond to God’s saving mercy by presenting our bodies, and all that we do with them, as a living sacrifice to God. This means that we should stop doing whatever we want or whatever feels good in the moment and instead go to God for guidance about what we should do and what decisions we should make. Approaching God in this way keeps him on the throne of our hearts, where He belongs.

Paul describes our having this posture of submission toward God as a “reasonable” act of worship, but that word in English fails to convey his full meaning.

The Greek word Paul uses here is logikos. I probably don’t even have to tell you what English word comes from that. It means “logical” or “rational.” It can also be interpreted as “intelligent,” “true,” “appropriate,” “sensible,” “only right,” “authentic,” “fitting,” “not too much to ask,” “proper,” “genuine,” “essential,” “spiritual “ and “in line with God’s mind.”

It is only by being spiritually mindful of the fact that we are sinners, incapable of saving ourselves, and yet chosen by God for redemption when we exercise the faith that is a gift from God, that we can find ourselves in a place where true transformation can begin. We are chosen, but we also make an informed choice.

True worship, therefore, happens where faith and logic meet. Faith and reason are not opposites. Indeed, they must be used together for us to do the work that God saved us to do.

God’s Part and Our Part

This is why both the active and passive voice are used in verse 2. I know that drives English teachers and the Microsoft Word grammar checker nuts, but it’s essential here so that we can understand just how this process of offering ourselves as living sacrifices works. Let’s break verse 2 down.

Do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world.

The implication here is that we have been conforming to the pattern of this world, which is true. As Christians, we always need to remember where we came from. To be set apart from the world, we had to first be a part of it. But what is “the pattern of this world?”

The pattern is the superficial values and customs of our culture. Throughout the ages, it has always been about keeping up appearances. The world judges people and situations by what they can see. Since faith involves believing, THEN seeing, it doesn’t fit the pattern. Therefore, the pattern rejects faith.

In doing so, the people that do conform to the pattern develop standards (for lack of a better word) that are not based on faith and its outcome. The pattern molds and shapes them into a hive mind that is opposed to anything that would challenge it.

So why is that a problem for Truthseekers? Because there’s a good chance that a lot of our friends and family are conforming to that pattern. Sometimes being set apart feels more like being left out. We are tempted to compromise our faith and convictions to have a sense of belonging that we are comfortable with.

This is why God warns us that we have to do our part to resist the pattern. But while we are doing that, God is doing this…

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

When we make the decision not to follow the lemmings of our culture, we open the door for God to do His transforming work in our lives. Our minds are renewed through prayer and the study of God’s Word.

Have you noticed that the more time you spend with somebody, the more you start to become like them? You pick up their mannerisms, their accent, maybe even some of their habits.

It works the same way with Jesus. Religion can form habitual rituals, but a relationship with Jesus changes you from the inside out. Once you have made the decision to follow Jesus, AND made the effort to spend time with Him in prayer and meditation, you start to see your life and the world in a different way.

But what is the purpose of this transformation?

So that you test and approve what is the will of God.

Back to our part. We choose to not follow the culture so that God can transform our minds so that we can use our own logic and reason, in accordance with our faith, to find out God’s will for our lives.

This is the process of figuring out the path that has been prepared for us. If we try to figure it out ourselves without yielding to the Holy Spirit, it won’t work. This is why it says in Proverbs 3:5-6 (my most favorite verse):

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. (NASB)

(We shall expound upon this in Part 2—Our Own Understanding)

Overcoming the World: Part 4–Keep in Step

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. Galatians 5:25-26 (MSG)

The Christian walk is not concerned with how good we feel about ourselves for being Christians. While we don’t need to do things for God to get His attention, we do still have a part to play. Even a simple game of follow the leader requires effort.

Grace is the free gift of God, but it did not come cheaply. If we had no role to play in working out our own salvation, then what would be the point of getting saved in the first place?

The work that God does within us by the power of the Holy Spirit ought to be evident externally. We have been changed from within so that we may bring change to the world without. So what does that look like?

More spiritual fruit, less religious nuts. . .

In Part 3, we began by listing the nine “fruits” of the Holy Spirit, that is to say, the characteristics that are produced by Him in us, which are the evidence of His existence in our lives.

Love. As we have discussed previously, love is an action word, not an emotion. Love involves sacrifice, or always putting the needs of others before your own.
Joy. Like love, joy is more substantial than just a feeling of superficial happiness. It is a powerful force that is God’s response to our praise and thanksgiving. This strength renews and refuels us, giving us the proper attitude to carry on with whatever comes our way next.
Peace. Peace is more than just an absence of discord. It involves trusting that God is strong enough to bring us through whatever trials await us, no matter how dire they may seem.
Patience. I KNOW this one’s coming from the Lord, because it sure didn’t originate with me! This is the supernatural ability to stay chilled and let things roll off your back. In many people, this is the first fruit of the Spirit that others notice in a new believer. Short fuses get a lot longer.
Kindness. Kindness is love in motion. This is the act of lifting up another who needs it. Before the Spirit’s work in your life, there were people you might not have even noticed. Afterward, though, you might find yourself helping these folks out without giving it a second thought.
Goodness. I’ve always wondered why this one was listed after “kindness,” because goodness is the attitude from which kindness flows. To be able to do good for others, we have to first have the mindset of doing good for good’s sake.
Faithfulness. A person under the influence of the Spirit will live a life of integrity. He will say what he means, mean what he says, finish what he starts, and always, ALWAYS keep his word. Lack of faithfulness is one of the quickest ways to spot a fake Christian. Someone who is timid, wishy-washy, unreliable or just plain dishonest is not living by the Spirit. It doesn’t matter how long he or she has been going to church.
Gentleness. Along with patience, this is another very obvious sign that God is working in someone’s life. If a person has a history of anger issues (as I have), and you see that person holding his tongue, not raising his voice, being less competitive, etc., it’s a good bet that person didn’t learn those techniques from a self-help book.
Self-Control. Along with gentleness, people under the control of the Spirit are able to keep themselves together. They can hold themselves back, and keep themselves from going to pieces in stressful situations. Again, when you see someone with a reactive nature not taking the bait and going for the throat anymore when someone tries to start an argument, you know that something’s up that didn’t start with that person.

I can not stress enough that this is not intended to be a to-do list for you to check off.

The goal here is not to get these things done. It’s to keep in step with the Holy Spirit by letting His influence in our lives rule our conduct. If our goal is to live lives of strong moral character and integrity, then the characteristics in the list above will shine through naturally, sometimes without our even being aware of them.

Other people will notice, however, just as they notice when we claim to be filled with the Spirit, but fail to display these characteristics.

Again, the characteristics are not the goal. The character is.

(For more on living this out, come back for Part 5—As Far as it Depends on You)

The Kids Aren’t All Right: Part 1–What We’re Up Against

Lord, save our children.

When did it become not OK for kids to be kids? There is hardly a child now that by the age of 14 hasn’t either cut themselves, questioned their sexuality or rejected God. Anyone that tries to lead them to Truth is labeled intolerant, hateful, an ignorant bigot, or worse.

We are even accused of trying to indoctrinate our own children, but only because our parenting gets in the way of the attempts at indoctrination by our accusers. And they want to call US hypocrites!

How fortunate then, that God already has a plan for these people. He will have the last word, as he told His prophet Isaiah:

I stop the highbrow intellectuals in their tracks,
and I show the fault of their reasoning.
But I stand behind the words of My servants,
and I accomplish what they predict. (Isaiah 44:25b-26a VOICE)

We must endure. As righteous as our anger may be toward our antagonists, we must remember these things:

In our anger, we must not sin.(Ephesians 4:26)
Vengeance is the Lord’s not ours. (Romans 12:19)
We do have a real enemy, but it is not a human enemy (2 Thessalonians 3:15, 1 Peter 5:8)

Our job is to spread the Gospel. We can’t praise the name of Jesus and sully it at the same time. If we take our eyes off of Jesus and start worrying about what other people are doing, then we lose sight of our mission. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his book, Strength to Love:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence, you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence, you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Our job is to bring the light of Jesus to a darkened world that does not know it is in darkness.

We shouldn’t be surprised when we encounter opposition to the Truth. This has been going on since day one. Jesus was crucified, the apostles were persecuted and martyred, and on and on through the centuries. There may soon come a day when preaching the word of God becomes illegal in this country, as it is in many communist and Muslim countries.

But here’s the thing. Even if they put us in prison, God’s word can not be bound. As Paul wrote in his second letter to Timothy:

Remember always, as the centre of everything, Jesus Christ, a man of human ancestry, yet raised by God from the dead according to my Gospel. For preaching this I am having to endure being chained in prison as if I were some sort of a criminal. But they cannot chain the Word of God, and I can endure all these things for the sake of those whom God is calling, so that they too may receive the salvation of Jesus Christ, and its complement of glory after the world of time. (2 Timothy 2: 8-10 PHILLIPS)

We are called to persevere under trial and not to give up. Even if we get tired and weak, God won’t. So if we trust Him to carry us when we can’t go on, He will be faithful to do it.

We must stand firm, not only for our children’s sake, but also for our own. Will you join me in praying for our youth today to be Truthseekers and not herd followers?

Whose Money Is It Anyway?: Part 3–Tithing

The Lord All-Powerful says, “Try this test. Bring one-tenth of your things to me. Put them in the treasury. Bring food to my house. Test me! If you do these things, I will surely bless you. Good things will come to you like rain falling from the sky. You will have more than enough of everything. Mal 3:10 (ERV)

The Bible has many examples of people testing God. Most of them occur when Israel was wandering in the desert for 40 years after Moses led them out of Egypt. The New Testament frequently refers back to those instances as warnings of what not to do in a relationship with God.

Yet here, near the very end of the Old Testament, God is straight up inviting us to test Him.

In 2003, right after I became a Christian, my pastor preached a sermon on the verse above, emphasizing that in this instance alone, God wants us to test Him. I had never thought of tithing that way before. In my mind, tithing was like a church tax, or else something that only extra-credit Christians did.

Besides, I had very little money at the time. I was living on my own and trying to pay down debts from my recently failed first marriage. What did I have to offer God that could win His favor?

Did your red light buzzer go off just then? It should have. For one thing, God’s favor is just a part of who He is. There isn’t anything we can do to earn it.

And for another . . . does God really need MY money? He’s God. I don’t think He’s short of funds.

What I have come to learn is that it really isn’t about the money itself. It’s about trust.

God entrusts us with His wealth according to our ability to handle it. Jesus illustrates this principle in the Parable of the Talents, which can be found in Matthew 25:14-30.

But trust goes both ways with God. He wants us to trust Him not just concerning the money, but also with our general well-being.

I chose the translation of the verse at the beginning of this post specifically for the phrase “Good things will come to you like rain falling from the sky.” To the people hearing this prophecy from Malachi firsthand, in the middle of the fourth century B.C., this would have been a literal message. They weren’t concerned with having new Cadillacs; they were concerned with their crops, as there was a great drought going on at that time.

So in context, what God was saying to Israel at that specific time was, “You want me to stop holding back the rain? Fine. Stop holding back your tithes. I DARE you to give me back the first 10% of what you only have because I gave it to you in the first place. Do that, and watch what happens.”

Now today, many folks who are not proponents of tithing argue that this was a specific message for a specific people in a specific time; therefore, it does not apply to us today.

But for me, I just couldn’t get past those words, “Test me!” God is always testing me to prove my faith; now He wants me to test Him?

So that’s exactly what I did. Here’s how it worked out.

The first thing that I had to wrap my brain around is that tithing is not something you do when you can afford it. It’s 10% of what you have, even if that’s very little. It’s not about the amount you’re putting into the collection plate. It’s about trusting that God will bless the 90% you have left.

Once I got over my guilt about the tiny little checks I was writing each Sunday and just went with it, I started to notice things happening in my budget. Like how I never ran out of money at the end of the month, regardless of how bleak things appeared at the beginning.

Over the years since then, I have noted many other instances where the math just didn’t add up at first, but things worked out better than I could ever have planned it.

The most recent example is this. After our honeymoon, my wife told me that her dream vacation would be an Alaskan cruise. Those aren’t cheap, but I told her then that if we started saving, we could set a goal to do that for our 10-year anniversary.

So we saved for nine years, at which point, I said, “Honey, we can do this, but it will wipe out our savings.” We went forward with the plans.

Long story short, we went on that cruise and land tour in Alaska. We just got back a couple of weeks ago. Counting the flights out and back, it was a two-week adventure. In my life, I have owned several cars that did not cost as much as this trip.

And we still have over three fourths of our savings intact.

Not only that, but we had beautiful weather the entire trip (which just does not happen in Alaska). At nearly every stop, the guides on our excursions were amazed at all of the “rare” things we got to see, such as orcas, humpback whales bubble net feeding, the Hubbard Glacier calving, and the peak of Denali in clear sunshine, just to name a few.

Diana and I at the Talkeetna River with the peak of Denali over my right shoulder.

Indeed, God poured out his blessings on my family during this trip, but really, it was just a very obvious and visible manifestation of how He has blessed us, and our finances, all along.

Even during the extended periods of unemployment that I have had, I have never felt like we were “in need,” because God doesn’t respond to need.

He responds to faith.

And that is what tithing is really all about. It is a tangible expression of the faith that God will meet your needs and then some. And he blesses it every single time.

Do any of you have stories of God’s faithfulness regarding your finances? I’d love to hear them!

(More about money in Part 4–Enough)

Whose Money Is It Anyway? (Part 1–Stewardship)

Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in big things too. If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, you will not be trusted with the true riches. And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, you will not be given anything of your own. Luke 16:10-12 (ERV)

Take a moment to consider this question: What do you have that wasn’t given to you?

We use words like “earn” and “create” to maintain the illusion that we alone are responsible for everything that we have. However, if these things were really ours, then we couldn’t lose them, could we?

Sure, we work for our money, but then someone else has to give it to us. Then either we give it away to someone else by spending it, or we hold onto it forever and die, at which point we don’t take it with us. There’s a reason you don’t see hearses towing U-hauls!

So if it’s not really “our” money, then whose is it? King David answered that question emphatically after taking the offering to build the temple in Jerusalem:

To you, Lord, belong greatness and power,
honor, splendor, and majesty,
because everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you.
Yours, Lord, is the kingship,
and you are honored as head of all.
You are the source of wealth and honor,
and you rule over all.
In your hand are strength and might,
and it is in your power to magnify and strengthen all.

(1 Chronicles 29:11-12 CEB)

Everything in heaven and earth (yes, even the money) belongs to God. Therefore, we don’t really “own” anything. Rather, we are stewards of everything currently in our possession.

Simply put, a steward is someone who is placed in charge of someone else’s stuff. The principle at work here is that at some point, the steward will have to give account of how he or she has managed the property belonging to the Master. A steward that proves faithful is rewarded, but those who aren’t . . . not so much.

You see, how we handle money is an indicator of how we will steward all of the other blessings in our life. Money is just the easiest one to track. So how do you track this in your own life?

The best way to gauge that for yourself is to figure out who it is that you really serve. Are you putting your trust in the provider or the provision? As Jesus said in the verse that comes right after the passage at the top of this post:

You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one master and love the other. Or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Money at the same time. (Luke 16:13 ERV)

If you are primarily interested in serving God by stewarding HIS wealth, then your needs will always be met.

However, if your hope is in the money itself, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

(Come back for Part 2—Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt)

DN=: Part 5–Discrimination

Discernment is the divine enablement to distinguish between truth and error, good and evil, right and wrong. A person with this gift can differentiate pure from impure motives, identify deception in others, determine authenticity of messages from God, recognize false teaching and sense the presence of evil. (Paraphrased from “Network” by Bruce Bugbee and Don Cousins.)

In other words, discernment is God’s B.S. detector.

Have you ever known someone who accurately saw something fake or sinister in a person’s character before anyone else did? Have you ever had a friend who told you what you were thinking when you couldn’t even explain it yourself? This is discernment at work.

(Remember back at the beginning of this series when I talked about people talking in code? I didn’t forget about that. From here on out, we’re going to defuse political correctness one code-bomb at a time.)

Another word with a meaning similar to discernment, in the literal sense of having the ability to distinguish differences, is discrimination.

While discernment is a spiritual gift, given by God to whomever He chooses, discrimination is a natural skill that can be learned and developed by anybody through careful observation and judicious contemplation.

It would seem, then, that discrimination should actually be a positive thing, since being UN-able to recognize differences would be a sign of a lack of intelligence or observance.

Nevertheless, this word has gradually become associated with “bigotry,” even though those two words really aren’t connected.

DISCRIMINATION DN= BIGOTRY

There’s a big difference between distinguishing the differences in people and treating people differently. Paul wrote:

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:28 MSG)

And also:

[In this new creation all distinctions vanish.] There is no room for and there can be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, [nor difference between nations whether alien] barbarians or Scythians [who are the most savage of all], nor slave or free man; but Christ is all and in all, everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person]. (Colossians 3:11 AMP)

In making these statements, Paul is instructing these early churches that although the Church is made up of all kinds of different people from different backgrounds, it is much more significant that Christ is our common ground. Being the original Truthseeker, Paul discriminates by noting the differences, but does not show favoritism, because Christ does not show favoritism.

Looking at it this way, we can clearly see that bigotry is defined by emphasizing differences with the motive of boosting one’s own status over that of another based solely upon those differences. Bigotry may START with discrimination, but it ends somewhere else entirely.

So how do you know when you’ve crossed the line?

Labels

Whenever you refer to another person with a label instead of their name, that’s a pretty clear sign that you are crossing over to the dark side of discrimination, because you are now seeing that person not as an individual, but as part of a subset of humanity, most likely one to which you do not belong yourself.

Once you have identified the difference and affixed a label to it, the emphasis of that difference comes naturally. From there, it’s a very short walk to bigotry, simply because our human nature is to justify ourselves, and the easiest way to do that is to lower our view of others. Labels just streamline that process.

So how does discernment fit into this?

From the definitions we have already discussed, discernment is essentially God-level discrimination. But since we have already seen that God sees all of His followers as equal in Christ, then it should be obvious that the purpose of discernment is not to enable bigotry by labeling humans and dividing them into groups.

Discernment is not about judging character or outward appearances, but rather motives and the behavior that arises from them. Which leads me to my next DN=.

(Come back for Part 6–Judgmental)

DN=: Part 4–Holy

Another troublesome churchy word is “holy.” Like “righteous,” the word “holy” also has some unnecessary baggage attached to it. Just as some people see the word “righteous” and think “self-righteous,” some people see the word “holy” and think “holier-than-thou.”

If you’re not familiar with the term, “holier-than-thou” describes the attitude of a Christian condescending to someone else. Naturally, this attitude is very off-putting.

HOLY DN= HOLIER-THAN-THOU

The word “holy” simply means “set apart for God’s purpose.” It can refer to a day, a place, a nation or an individual. Mostly, however, it refers to God Himself. As Isaiah wrote:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

(Isaiah 55: 8-9 NIV)

God is holy, or set apart, simply because He’s God, and we’re not. When people put their faith in Jesus Christ, trust in His saving work on the cross to make them righteous, and make Him the Lord of their lives, then they also become holy. They are still human beings, but now they are set apart from the world to do God’s work.

It is critical to understand the progression here. God makes us righteous through JESUS’ work, not ours. In the same way, God makes us holy only when we realize that we AREN’T made righteous by our good deeds.

If a person claims to have faith in Jesus, but still lives as he did before being saved, then how has that person been set apart?

He hasn’t.

Christians are SUPPOSED to stand out. We are SUPPOSED to be different from everybody else. Otherwise, what would be the point of being one?

The irony of holiness is that just as we were set free in order to become servants, we were also set apart to become unified—not to the world, but to each other. As Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus about Jesus:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. (Ephesians 4: 11-16 NRSV)

When Paul refers to “saints” in this context, he is referring to all believers, not people (such as himself) who are referred to with a St. in front of their name. The “work of ministry” for which said saints are being equipped is the service to which we are called upon having been made free. Still with me so far?

In addition to the gifts Paul mentions above, there are many other spiritual gifts that believers receive when they are made holy. I’m not going to go into all of them here. However, in light of the sudden aggressive turn our culture has taken, I feel it necessary to expound upon one of them—discernment.

(And I will do that in Part 5–Discrimination)

DN=: Part 3–Righteousness

One of the pitfalls of using churchy jargon is the proclivity for misunderstanding by those outside the church. (For more on this topic, check out this post.) One of those commonly misunderstood words is “righteousness.”

To be “righteous” is to have “right standing” with God. This is not a status that can be achieved through human effort. As Solomon pointed out, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV).”

This concept is explained further in Romans 3:

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

(Romans 3:9-12, 19-26 NIV)

The passage above contains the word “justify” a couple of times. Justificiation is the act of being made righteous by one who has the authority to do so.

In other words, since we can do nothing to make ourselves righteous, God makes us righteous through faith in Jesus.

Redemption

When we were slaves to sin, we were lawbreakers and were therefore under the penalty of the law. That penalty is death. Jesus paid that penalty for us in order to pay our debt to God. This is the “redemption” the passage above refers to.

The danger for Christians, having been made righteous by faith, is to forget that we had nothing to do with being forgiven. Sure, we made the choice to follow Christ. However, we are forgiven because HE says so, not because WE say so.

If we become too accustomed to our view from the mountaintop, and forget how we got there (by God throwing us down a rope, not by our climbing), it is all too tempting for us to look down on the people still “down in the valley.”

Basically, if you ever find yourself looking down on someone else from a position that you have not earned, you have crossed the line to self-righteousness.

RIGHTEOUSNESS DN= SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

For Christians, self-righteousness comes from the mistaken idea that we are somehow better than other human beings are because of our relationship with Jesus. For a non-Christian, self-righteousness occurs when they must put another down in order to elevate themselves.

Since true righteousness comes from faith in Jesus alone, a person without that faith would have no means of being made righteous. Since no one can earn the favor of God by good deeds, anyone who boasts in those deeds would be self-righteous as well.

Simply put, self-righteousness is unrighteousness.

(For more clarification of church jargon, come back for Part 4–Holy)

Also, do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God—what is good, pleasing, and perfect. (Romans 12:2 EHV)