My family has a dog named Captain. Captain is a very white and fluffy dog. He is part German Shepherd part Great Pyrenees. Every winter our farm gets sacked with a bunch of pure, white, fresh snow. Suddenly, our normally white dog turns very yellow and dirty. His white coat has not changed, but the background has changed.
The same is true with us as humans when we consider our own righteousness. Compared to the background of other humans we think of ourselves as pretty good. For example, most everyone would say that they are a good person compared to Adolf Hitler or Stalin. We always find someone more stained and dirty than ourselves to make ourselves look clean. However, when we compare ourselves to God's pure, holy law we suddenly look very dirty and stained with sin. It's not that we suddenly got dirty, but when we compare ourselves to God's perfect standard of His law we fall awfully short. Paul says in Romans 7:7 that he would not have known sin except by the God's law. The pure law of God makes us see our true state before our Creator. Good works can not make us look pure in God's sight, because Isaiah says that God considers our righteous works as filthy rags.
Knowing that compared to God I am a miserable wretch, makes me want to praise Him even more for what He did for me. I could maybe, just maybe, see myself dying for a REALLY good person. But that is unlikely. But God sent His only Son to die in our place. Can you imagine dying for a race that has continually spit in your face since time began? God's grace and mercy is so incredible.
I'd encourage you to take some time to look into the pure, fresh, holy law of God – the Ten Commandments. Praise God that in spite of how dirty and stained with sin we are, we can be made righteous - completely pure white through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." (Isaiah 1:17-19)
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