Daily Devotional
We Do Not Measure Up
“But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Isaiah 64:6
September 5, 2024
Ponder This
Before Christ, our righteousness is as filthy rags. Do you know what that word “filthy rags” literally means? It described the bandage that wrapped the oozing, running putrefying sores of the leper—that loathsome thing you would burn. God says, “It’s not about what I think about your so-called badness. It’s what I think about your so-called goodness.” An unsaved man is in himself wicked and therefore everything he touches, he contaminates.
Imagine a beautiful fruit salad, but the person who’s mixing that salad for your dinner has open sores on his hands. Do you want it? Of course not. You lost your appetite. There is nothing wrong with the grapes, nothing wrong with the bananas, nothing wrong with the apples. There’s something wrong with the cook.
The worst form of badness is human goodness when that human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth. What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is failure to do good. Sin is human goodness that keeps us from God’s righteousness. Even our righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight.
- When have you tried to do good in your own power?
- Why do you think we often depend on human goodness to get to God?
Practice This
Repent for ways you have depended on your own goodness before God.
FOR YOUR GIFT TO THE MINISTRY
Front Porch Moments by Gayle Foster
WITH KEY INSIGHTS FROM HER FATHER, ADRIAN ROGERS
I try to unplug each morning with Jesus with just my rocking chair, my Bible, and a pen.
Having a secret place is very important because I know that Jesus is always there waiting for me. I know where I can find Him! His presence is everywhere, but there are places where it is so thick you can cut it with a knife. You may not even have a front porch, but there is a secret place for you as well. God’s invitations are for anyone who will respond. There is no more important request than the one found in Psalm 27:8: “My heart has heard You say, ‘Come and talk with Me.’ And my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming.’”
