Ok.  Admit it.  At some point in the last 15 years, you have sported (even if only for clever fun making purposes) a bracelet or something with the letters WWJD on it.  Of course you’re embarrassed about it—we all know that—so don’t worry.  You had good intentions I’m sure.  So don’t lie, your secret is safe here.

Here’s the bracelet that I have worn most of my life: “W.W.J.L.M.G.A.W.J.T.O.I.I.S.I.W.R.R.S.A” (What would Jesus let me get away with just this once if I said I was really, really sorry afterward?).  Yes, I have really big wrists.  Isn’t that how most of us treat righteousness?  And it sucks!  (almost as much as that stupid slogan).  It sucks because it shows such a misunderstanding of righteousness when we approach it that way.

On the other side of it, have you ever told somebody that you can’t do something because you’re a Christian?  That is the saddest answer ever.  Hey!  Come and do this with us!  Ah …no …I can’t do that …because I’m a Christian.  No!!!!!!!!  Stop it right now!  That is the worst answer ever!  Self Righteousness is what that is and it’s gross!  Lord help us!

What we should be saying is, No!!!  I WON’T do that!!!  (won’t not can’t).  I won’t do that because Jesus gave his life to set me free and I couldn’t bare to grieve his spirit that lives right here in my being; I was dead and now I am alive and have no desire for those things of that old life.

It’s like my daughter.  I over heard her playing with a friend the other day and she said something to the effect of, no, I don’t listen to that music because my mommy and daddy won’t let me.  And I thought, good girl, but what she really means is:  NOOOOOOOO!!!!  I SHAL NOT DO THAT!  FOR IT IS NOT ONE OF THE GOOD THINGS THAT MY MOTHER AND FATHER WANT FOR ME!  THEY ARE SUCH WONDERFUL AND GOOD PARENTS AND I WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING THAT THEY DID NOT WANT ME TO DO.  IT WOULD BREAK THEIR HEARTS WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT I COULD NOT BARE.  AND MY DAD IS SO VERY VERY HANDSOME AND SMART AND BRAVE!!!  That’s what she was thinking ok.  I know it.  She didn’t say that but she thought it I am certain.  It’s science.

I think you guys get my point.  We get all screwed up in our thinking about righteousness and we just need to get it straight.  We need to rearrange our thinking about our works.  Religion is: I obey, therefore I am excepted.  Saving faith is:  I am excepted therefore I obey.  The chasm between those two paradigms is so incredibly vast and it affects every aspect of a person’s life.  Grace and peace as you wrestle with that.