In my walk with God I have found that it is easy yo fall into the trap of self-condemnation and lose sight of faith in Jesus and grace. When we first accept Jesus we know and believe that our sins are forgiven and we are made right with God. But what about after that initial confession? What about when we have been doing good, following the Holy Spirit, and then start to fall back into old patterns and behaviors or doing things that we know we shouldn’t do? I think that is one of things that test our faith the most. It definitely opens the door for the enemy to put negative thoughts, lies, and doubt in our minds. When that happens it is vital to our spirit that we remind ourselves of the whole reason that Jesus came and died and what our faith in him means.

When God created man He made him to be perfect beings and up to his standards. But then sin entered man and that made God so sad and angry because He intended better for us. Because God is Holy and righteous He is unable to abide in unholy and nonrighteous places. Therefore, God was unable to fellowship and abide in man and that saddened him a great deal because of his unconditional love for us. So He thought of a plan to bring man back into fellowship and right standing with himself eventhough we were still imperfect beings.

God created and sent Jesus Christ to earth to make the way for him to be able to view us as being completely righteous and perfect. This is the reason Jesus died on the cross. His blood shed on the cross made the way for our sins to be forgiven (always), to be made right with God, and to be able to enjoy fellowship with him. Since we are imperfect and unable to manifest perfection, God chooses to see us through the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross as payment for our sins. It has nothing to do with our behavior, He simply views us that way because it is the only way He can have an intimate relationship with us. So He sees us just as He sees Jesus!!

There is two kinds of righteousness. There is self-righteousness and there is God’s kind of righteousness. Self-righteousness is when we try to earn righteousness through behavior, which we can never do. God’s righteousness is knowing that because of our faith in Jesus Christ we are made right in God’s eye’s eventhough we are sinners. It is also the only kind of righteousness that God will accept. God gives us right standing with himself as a free gift when we believe in Jesus Christ. We are justified (made as if we have never sinned) by believing in Jesus and the work He accomplished on the cross. And as long as we continue too believe that we are seen by God as perfectly righteous. We are viewed as being in Christ and as such, God sees us as He sees Jesus!

If we start to condemn ourselves for our actions, sins, failures, or flaws we can fall into self-righteousness and try to earn right standing with God back but it will never work. We are made right with God through faith in Jesus and his actions, not ours.

How do you feel about yourself in your heart (spirit)? Do you feel like something is wrong with you or compare yourself to others? Do you feel like you’re not good enough or that you should be able to act better? Do you feel like you need to change something about yourself before God or anyone else will accept or approve of you? God wants your spirit to be covered with righteousness- not guilt, shame, condemnation, or insecurity. He chooses to see you as his perfect child, even though you have flaws, because of your belief in Jesus. He sees you as he sees Jesus, and Jesus was all that we can never be, therefore anything that you may lack is covered by him.

When we start to condemn ourselves for our flaws we can start to lose sight of the truth of our right standing with god. If we have a poor self image, don’t value ourselves, or believe negative things that people have said about us, we will also feel as if we are not in right standing with God. And as long as we feel wrong about ourselves we cannot experience the true joy that God wants us to feel as his child. He wants to give you the wonderful gift of being righteous and perfect in his eyes. He wants you to know that you are loved, approved of, and accepted just as you are right at this moment. He wants you to believe that your righteousness is not based on your doing everything right, but it is based on faith in Jesus Christ and what he has already done for you.

How do you think God feels about you? Do you believe that He loves and accepts you just as you are? Do you believe that when you are a total mess, have falling into sin, make bad choices, or disobey him, that he still views you as righteous? That is the wonderful truth of how God chooses to see you because he desires to stay in close fellowship with you and wants to have a intimate close relationship with you.