A noteworthy dream

Recently, I had an unusual dream; one that stuck with me in a way that most normally do not. 

In my dream, I was riding on the subway.  Suddenly, a fellow passenger (who looked remarkably like the Giants coach Tom Coughlin for some strange reason) began asking people one by one why they thought they were going to go to Heaven.  When he got to me, I said, “The fact is, I’m not relying on my own righteousness to enter Heaven; I’m relying on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.”  
Not long ago, I finished reading John Bunyan’s classic book “The Pilgrim’s Progress” for the very first time.  I had read bits and pieces of it before, but never all the way through.  I was enraptured by this book and I found it difficult to put down.  Incidentally, for those of you unfamiliar with the story, Pilgrim’s Progress was written by John Bunyan in the late 1600’s.  It’s an allegory of a man, named Christian, who spends most of the book travelling to the Celestial City, or Heaven.  Along the way, Christian discovers that there are many enticements that seek to distract him from his quest. 

There’s one portion of the book where Christian, along with his friend Hopeful, encounter a man named Ignorance.  Ignorance desires to go the Celestial City, but he wants to get there his own way.  He begins to list his resume: he has lived a good life, he prays, fasts, and gives to others.  Christian and Hopeful try to lovingly explain that this is not the way that one enters the Celestial City.  Eventually Christian proclaims to Ignorance, “True faith takes refuge in Christ’s righteousness.”  Did you catch that statement?  "True faith takes refuge in Christ's righteousness."

Bunyan's point is clear: if admission to Heaven was dependent on our own personal righteousness, we all would be sunk.  Why?  Because the Bible says that our righteous acts are like filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6).  Does this mean that we should disregard trying to be righteous altogether and instead live like the devil?  No, not at all!  There is great value in living a righteous life.  What this verse is telling us is that if we live in such a way that we are trying to somehow earn Heaven by our own effort, merit, and works, God isn’t impressed.  In that scenario, God is saying all He sees is a dirty rag.  Rather we must look to Christ to be saved.

Kevin

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” - 2 Corinthians 5:21