Made Right by Christ, Not by Ourselves

One of the biggest struggles many believers carry is the feeling that they must “fix themselves” before God will accept them. We try harder, work more, discipline ourselves, and promise to change. But the harder we try to make ourselves righteous, the more we realise how impossible it truly is.

The gospel was never a call to achieve righteousness. It was an invitation to receive it.

Scripture teaches that righteousness is not something we create – it is something Christ completed.

The Cross Finished What We Could Never Begin

On the cross Jesus cried out, “It is finished.”

Not almost finished.

Not You finish the rest.

Finished.

The work of saving humanity, restoring us to God, and making us righteous was accomplished entirely by Him, not by us.

2 Corinthians 5:21

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Jesus didn’t only remove our sins. He gave us His righteousness. This is not earned. It is received.

Righteousness Is a Gift, Not a Reward

Romans 5:17

“Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

A reward depends on performance.

A gift depends on the giver.

If righteousness were earned by getting ourselves right first, Christ didn’t need to die. But He did – because humanity could never produce righteousness from within. Only God could provide it, and He did through His Son.

God Does Not Ask Us to Fix Ourselves

Romans 3:23–24

“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.”

We don’t become justified after we get our act together.

We are justified freely, because of Christ.

God meets us where we are, not where we wish we were. He doesn’t wait for us to be worthy. He makes us worthy through His Son.

Transformation Comes From Love, Not Pressure

Trying to change ourselves out of fear or guilt leads only to frustration.

But when we discover we are already loved, already accepted, already forgiven, and already declared righteous because of Christ, something changes inside us.

We stop striving and start trusting.

We stop working for love and begin living from love.

Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden.

1 John 4:19

“We love Him because He first loved us.”

Jesus Did Not Come to Show Us What We Must Become Without Him

He came to share His life with us.

Galatians 2:20

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

Our transformation is not about trying to be like Jesus through our own strength. It is Jesus living His life in us.

His victory becomes our victory.

His righteousness becomes our righteousness.

His life becomes our life.

You Don’t Become Righteous by Getting Yourself Right

You become righteous because Christ made you right.

Then, from that place of security, love, and acceptance, your heart begins to change. Not to earn salvation, but because you are already saved.

Hebrews 10:14

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Perfected forever through His offering.

Being sanctified as His love continues to shape us.

We don’t fight for righteousness.

We fight from righteousness, a righteousness already given by Jesus.

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If you feel like you’re not enough, that you need to try harder, or fix your life before coming to God, remember this:

You don’t come to Jesus because you are clean.

You come to Jesus to be made clean.

The cross wasn’t the beginning of our effort.

It was the end of our effort… and the beginning of His life in us.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” – Colossians 1:27