Setting
Aside
Grace
I think, for me personally, my misunderstanding of the concept of RIGHTEOUSNESS was the number one thing that kept me defeated for many years of my walk with Jesus.
I knew I loved Jesus. And I knew Jesus loved me. Sort of. But I also had an understanding that God was harsh and quite difficult to please. In fact, I imagined that God was standing over me with a sledgehammer just waiting for me to step out of line and squash me like a bug with some disaster if and when I failed Him.
And I failed Him often.
Now truth be told, I understood that my righteousness in Jesus was CONDITIONAL. In other words, when I initially accepted Jesus as my Savior, He made me righteous. But then to MAINTAIN my righteousness, I had to live a “holy” life. Basically, this means I had to perform really well or I would lose my status of righteousness.
Now this belief system really wreaked havoc on my ability to receive God’s blessings. I was taught that my personal walk of holy living would affect my ability to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. It affected my ability to receive physical healing and miracles. And it affected my ability to receive the love of God.
Now what does the Bible call this conditional righteousness? It calls it a “setting aside” of the grace of God. And here’s a hint. That’s NOT good!
To “set aside” means “to nullify; to make void; to do away with; and to reject.” And that is exactly what this view of conditional righteousness does to the grace of God that we receive when we first come to Jesus. You cannot maintain grace if you think that your actions are responsible for MAINTAINING grace!
The view that thinks that by living an outwardly holy life by following a list of rules and regulations (law), is a view that completely nullifies God’s grace in your life.
And yet that is exactly how I was approaching righteousness. When I was performing well I had it. And when I was failing I didn’t.
Now the problem with this belief system and lifestyle is that I very rarely was able to attain this conditional righteousness. And as a result, I was very rarely able to receive the Good Things that the Bible showed me I ought to be receiving.
I was in a denomination that believed in divine healing and miracles. But did I ever receive divine healing and miracles? Rarely!
I was in a denomination that believed in the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. But did I ever see people get baptized in the Holy Spirit? It was rarer than chicken’s teeth. And hard!
Any person who thinks that maintaining his or her personal holiness has anything to do with their own personal performance in keeping a list of rules and regulations has made Christ of no value in their life. Christ has died in vain for you.
I should mention that I am using the terms “righteousness” and “holiness” interchangeably. They are not exactly the same thing, as one is a legal term and the other is a ministry term, but basically they both mean that you are perfect and right in the sight of God, set aside for His exclusive use.
When you realize that you can only attain this status through the performance of Jesus and what He did for you in the cross, then you understand grace. And you leave behind guilt.
But if you morph into performance religion and think that your personal ability to live a holy lifestyle is what is keeping you in close relationship with God, you have now left grace. And moved into guilt.
I did it for years. And the results were awful.
Try grace. It’s so much better!