This is for all the good girls (or boys) out there, who have ever thought they were truly good because they had “been good”. You’ve lived your life keeping almost, if not “all” of the rules.
You were always the “good kid”, and watched everyone else around you make the dumb decisions you decided you’d never make. Have you ever looked at someone and thought “wow, that’s crazy that they did that! How could they? I could never...”
Or maybe, you’re someone who feels like you ARE the bad kid. You’ve broken all the rules and made all of the “dumb” decisions. You feel like you’re the one that no one should ever want to be like, and you could never be good enough or worthy of what it is you truly long for in life – and ultimately, what you were created to be.
Isn’t it funny how we rate ourselves and rate other people? Or even how we rate sin? We hear someone’s story of their past or even just look at their instagram page, and we’ve already decided if we’re better or worse than them. Prettier or not as pretty. More successful or less successful. More liked or less liked – all based on how many followers or likes they have. Constantly comparing and rating each other. This process of comparison either leaves us feeling better than someone else in a way that is false, or feeling less than someone else that is FALSE. Both are false. And both are very deceiving.
To be honest, the girl I described at the very beginning was me until I was about 18. I thought I was pretty good, and without even realizing it I started to find my worth in how “good” I had been, and all the ways I had “saved myself for my future husband.”
But, this thinking was forced to change one day when I was talking to my mom about something a friend of mine had done in the past. My mom saw the way it was affecting me, and heard me talk about how hard it was to believe they had “done that”. She said, “Laney, your righteousness is no greater than hers. She has been made just as white as snow as you have. You are no better... it’s the same blood”.
Honestly, for someone who had felt like they’d kept most of the rules and been pretty good all their life, it felt like quite the confidence killer. But the truth is, over time my confidence had become what I had done, instead of what He had done.
Romans 3:23-26 says:
“For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
When Jesus died, shedding His blood for all, His word says that He washed us white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). We are covered by His blood and His blood covers all. It doesn’t matter if you think you’ve been the best or you think you’ve been the absolute worst. We ALL need HIM the same. Don’t let your past be baggage you carry around – full of shame and defeat, or think that your “goodness” is a badge for purity and what qualifies you for His favor. Nothing you have ever done or could ever do could ever qualify you or disqualify you for your destiny.
Righteousness cannot be earned, it can only be received. Come to Him and leave your bags at the door. Because as far as He is concerned, your baggage was checked in at the cross and LOST to never be found again.
Originally posted on Live Original with Sadie Robertson