Nobody likes a self-righteous person. Nobody likes those people who always think they’re better than everybody else. Nobody likes those people who always try to one-up others. But, if you think about it, you’ve probably acted in a self-righteous way at some point in your life. There’s probably been a time when you’ve believed you were better, smarter, or stronger compared to someone else, whether you verbalized that thought or not. There’s likely been an instance where you did something to one-up another person. We don’t like self-righteous people (and the self-righteous side of ourselves!) because we know that nobody is altogether righteous and nobody is really more righteous than somebody else. Everybody sins! There’s only one Person who truly is more righteous than anybody else, but He never puts us down because of it-

“For the LORD is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face.” Psalm 11:7, ESV

Our God is righteous! Everything He does is right. Everything He says is right. He is unable to sin or do anything wrong. God is forever, eternally righteous (Psalm 119:142), and He is righteous in all His ways (Psalm 145:17). Because our God is altogether righteous, His Law and His Word are also always right-

“Righteous are You, O LORD, and right are Your rules.” Psalm 119:137

Because our God is righteous, everything He has commanded or taught is also righteous. Every command and teaching written in the Bible is correct. God has never taught or commanded His people to sin or do anything wrong.

Due to our sin nature, though, we don’t have to be taught how to disobey or sin. Nobody has to teach or train a two-year-old to say no when their parents tell them to do something they don’t want to do! No person is born righteous (Romans 3:10), and no person can ever do enough good things to attain the righteousness that God possesses (Ephesians 2:8-9). If we are not righteous, how can we ever hope to spend eternal life with a perfectly righteous God? The answer is simple – Jesus.

“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus Christ came to live a perfect, sinless life on this earth two thousand years ago. On the cross, He died as a sacrifice for our sins, and His righteousness was imputed to all believers. This means that Jesus took away all our sin and filled us with His righteousness. Therefore, when we are saved, God no longer sees our unrighteousness. He instead sees the righteousness of His Son, and we are able to spend eternity with Him. We’ve been declared righteous, but this doesn’t mean that we can live however we want to (Romans 6:15). We’ve been given inward righteousness, but we still must pursue outward righteousness. R.C. Sproul explains this concept-

“When the Holy Spirit changes us inwardly, that change is evidenced in an outward change of behavior. We are called to conform outwardly to the righteousness of God because we have been made as creatures in the image of God, with the capacity to do what is right…”^[1]

We’ve been created in God’s image, and we’ve been given the righteousness of Christ. We are able to do what is right, so we must pursue righteousness-

“Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.” 1 Timothy 6:11b-12a

Doing what is right is not always easy! It’s hard to fight against temptation and our sin nature. But you have a righteous God who has imputed His righteousness to you and who helps you do what is right. Choose to do what is right today! And avoid giving in to sin and temptation. Pray to God and ask Him to help you fight this good fight, for-

“The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry.” Psalm 34:15

^[1] R.C. Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2014), 69.