"Righteous" Deceit

I love when I start to see a theme in conversations surrounding my life. The theme these past few weeks has been the immensity of God’s grace, and our inability to earn it.

My darling friend, Julie and I had so many great conversations while vacationing in Maine about the uncleanliness of our own acts of righteousness, and our constant striving to do something worthy of God’s favor... More recently, while having dinner with my sweet friend, Hannah, we discussed our own tendency to deceive ourselves. Julie and I read through the first few chapters of 1 Peter on our trip and this conversation with Hannah reminded me of a particular verse we repeated a few times…

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit…” 1 Pet 2:1a

We are likely to read this verse and think of deceit as an act done to another. However, Hannah brought up a great point. I think we are more often deceiving ourselves than anyone else. Paul writes it perfectly in Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” We are God’s handiwork… created by Him and for Him, which in itself means that we are nothing and can do nothing without God. Beth Moore’s study on Paul reflects his time in prison and the letters he wrote to the churches there. Several times he talks about this gift of grace and she highlights this truth in her study:

"We received Christ as a gift of grace... We must not believe any teaching or philosophy that replaces God's grace with our performance."

Our first thought is probably in defense – “I don’t boast about the things I do for Christ.” But this is where the heart deceit comes in… we may never speak about the good works we have done, or boast that we have accomplished so much that God MUST be proud of us… but are we deceiving our hearts by thinking these things? Maybe you aren’t… but I know I have been guilty of this.

Any righteousness in us comes from the Father alone. He wrapped us in His robe of righteousness and a garment of salvation (Is 61:10) in place of our filthy rags (Is 64:6). He opens our mind so we can understand scripture (Luke 24:45). He gives us every gift we possess (Eph 4:11) and gifted us with salvation through Jesus Christ.

There is NOTHING to boast about but Christ alone. In our hearts, our heads, and with our voices we can sing songs of praise to the only One who deserves it.

We don’t have to ask ourselves if we have done enough for Him. There is no such thing as “doing” enough. We don’t have to strive. As Max Lucado once said, "Of all the things you must earn in life, God's unending affection is not one of them. You have it." And as Christy Nockels so beautifully sings, “I was made me for rest, in a world that’s striving.” 

We can rest in the peace of not having to earn Christ’s love, favor, or forgiveness. Instead we can ask ourselves if we have lived a life that honors what He did for us on the cross. Every second, every thought, every word, and every action – am I giving glory to the One who really deserves it?