From Unrighteous to Righteous

         When I was young, I usually thought of myself as a relatively good person.  I wanted to be liked by those with whom I went to school.  I didn't want to cause any trouble on the bus.  I never brought in a snake wrapped up in a cloth and throw it in the lap of some of the girls as one boy did on a sunny afternoon.  I wasn't one that would try to cheat on any kind of test.  I didn't turn my paper over until the teacher said so.  So, I thought I must be a good kid.  Isaiah 64:6 says, " But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
       I always knew that I was a sinner from the my very first acquaintance with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That changed my view of my own character but this verse really nailed it down tight.  My feeling of being a good kid went down in flames as all of my goodness turned out to be despicable.  Isaiah goes on to give us several references to our lives in this verse.  We are compared to an unclean thing, then we go to being a filthy rag, and our iniquities have taken us away.  You can get a further definition of these categories in most commentaries as we find out just how bad we are.  What makes it worse is the fact that we think these things are good in our own thinking.  Isaiah is referring to our "righteousnesses."  These are the supposedly good things that we are trying to maintain in our lives but we only find out that they are those acts that we have done which we thought were so great, have turned out to be as filthy rags.  God deliberately shows us just what kind of a person we are in order that we know there is absolutely nothing that we can do to stand before God at judgment day.  If our righteous deeds are as filthy rags, then what must be the condition of the evil things that we have done?   It is at that point that we realize that we need  a Savior.  There has to be Someone Who is able to make the necessary payment or we will remain lost for all eternity.  We, of course, know now that that Savior did come, born of the virgin Mary, lived, was crucified, buried and rose again on the third day having made the final payment for our sin.  As the songwriter declared, "Jesus Paid it All."    Second Corinthians 5:21 is the flip side in that it shows how we become righteous.  It says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  Yes, Jesus did pay it all on the cross and His perfect sacrifice for our sins wiped all of them out.  That means that every filthy rag is gone.  It means that every unclean thing is gone.  You and I are made righteous by the finished work of Christ on the cross.  We go from being unrighteous to being righteous when we accept the payment that the Lord Jesus Christ made for all of our sins.  So, Praise God today that Jesus Paid it All.!