Passage of Day - Galatians 2

Galatians 2 ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. [read on]

Justified - declared righteous.

It is the pursuit of humanity to be justified. We label it differently depending on the subculture we live in. However, we attempt to justify all we do. After all, the desire to be justified has been stitched into the fabric of our soul. For the business man, his actions are justified in growing back accounts and success among his comrades. For the mother, a justified life is found in kids who are safe, happy, and in friendship with her. For the student, the late night activity of a Friday night is justified as something fun and adventurous…carpe diem style living.

However, our hearts desire for justification are only temporarily filled with the things of this world. Our soul’s desire is to be at peace with God. So, some religious people spend their lives in rigorous religious activity to move the good-bad scales in a positive direction. They believe that if they do enough good, if they obey the prescription of works - then their life will count for something…that God will see their good work and declare them righteous.

What arrogance. What pure rebellion and belittling of God Almighty. To think that our feeble attempts to be good are impressive or noteworthy to God is almost blasphemy. What work does an ant do in its normal day that you take note of…that you are moved to declare worthy of your time. Even greater is the chasm between God and our minute lives.

No, we are but wretches in light of God. We have nothing to offer. We are incapable of doing the good that He requires. What hope do we have of being justified? Oh, the impossibilities we face in getting God’s favor - let alone being declared righteous by Him.

Romans 5 ⁶ When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. ⁷ Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. ⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. ⁹ And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. ¹⁰ For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. ¹¹ So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Justification is only found in the person and work of Jesus. No activity. No good intentions. No nice deeds or thoughts. Jesus, period! Do you believe that? Do I believe that? Do we depend on that? Or do we spend our days desperately trying various lesser means of justifying our lives?

What are some of the ways you seek justification in your life?

How do you justify your actions and passions?

What do you need to stop doing today?

As Good Friday approaches let us repent of the foolish ways we try to justify our life! and come back to the cross and believe upon Jesus to do what we cannot.