Rags to Riches

Today I am afraid. I have this fear that you will believe you are good enough. What's the problem with that you say!? Please keep reading. For some reason, we humans, especially women, love to compare ourselves. We're looking at each other's clothes, hair, hobbies, and accomplishments and sizing ourselves up. How do we compare? Usually my guess is we get down on ourselves. But the opposite happens when it comes to internal goodness, we compare ourselves to those we consider worse than us and decide we are "good enough." Surely God accepts me because I am a good person and I pray and I help people. The problem with this is that the Bible says "all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags." Compared to the holiness of God, even on our best day, it is as if we were wearing filthy rags. For all of our goodness, we still aren't good enough. We try so hard to be good enough. But the good news is we don't have to be. Instead, we need a clothing (heart) exchange. The Bible speaks of clothing ourselves with Christ. Because of His great love for us, Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life for our sins on the cross so that instead of us trying to be good enough, He could wash away those filthy rags and clothe us with himself. This great exchange can take place when we put our faith and trust in Jesus. His love for us is perfect. Then our confidence, our hope, and our joy can come from Him!

Here's a link to an article that I think articulates this concept really well.It's called Heroin addicts, Homeschool kids, and the Gospel of Grace.  http://thecripplegate.com/heroine-addicts-home-school-kids-and-the-gospel-of-god%E2%80%99s-grace/