My brother-in-law, John, lives in Northern Ontario, Canada. As you might expect he loves beer and the great outdoors; hunting, fishing and everything associated with it. Myself on the other hand is not that guy. Nothing about sleeping in a tent in the frigid Northern air sounds appealing to me. But I would never, ever admit that to my brother-in-law or I would have to turn in my “man-card.” Whatever that is.
You can imagine my dilemma when I was invited by my brother-in-law on my first ever “man trip” in Northern Ontario. I felt forced/compelled to say yes. He told me that I had to bring my man clothes, that we would grow man beards, sleep in man tents, eat what we kill and pee outside. Hmmm, how could I refuse? Oh, one last thing. I was told to bring a “5-star” sleeping bag. Sure, thing I replied, despite the fact I had no idea what that was and I realized I didn’t even own a sleeping bag, but my daughter did! I grabbed her beauty and the beast sleeping bag and headed up North.
The first night we were there, the sub-0 temps were unbearable. Not to worry though, I had a sleeping bag to keep me warm. WRONG! I laid on the cold ground and asked God to kill me! (Elisha prayed that prayer so it’s very biblical).
I’m not sure if the Lord was answering my prayer or if my brother-in-law felt sorry for me, or both, but he gave me a spare “5-star sleeping bag” he brought.
Something I learned throughout that experience: my ghetto little kids sleeping bag was inefficient to keep me warm from the cold. Similarly, the scripture states that when we stand before a Holy God, our own righteousness will be insufficient to cover us.
In fact, Isaiah 64 says our own righteousness is like filthy rags before a Holy God. You and I will need another righteousness, one superior than our own. The apostle Paul came to the same conclusion (without the embarrassment of having a beauty and the beast sleeping bag).
Philippians 3:8-9
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Paul realized that no matter what he did or how hard he tried, his own good works would not be enough to sustain him before a Holy God. It was in that place of insufficiency that the beauty and the warmth of the gospel came alive to Paul. A perfect righteousness provided by Jesus and applied to Paul like a warm blanket for his soul, a “5-star righteousness” had been made available to him and Jesus makes it available to us.
Are you tired of being cold? Ask Jesus.