Being Verses Doing

And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; - Philippians 3:9

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Rm 6:15

How do we know if our righteousness is by faith or, our own, from the law?

I think it comes down to being instead of doing.

To trip and fall and injure ourselves so that we must grovel and lie in the dirt until a good samaritan shows mercy and helps us up, is much different than to throw oneself down in the dirt, pretending to be in the same state as the former, trying to evoke pity from the good samaritan. One is being while the other is doing. They both look the same, but come from a totally different paradigm. One is accepting the mercy of another in our circumstances, the other is manipulating another to pity for our own purposes. One is spirit, one is flesh.

Conversely abiding in Christ, shown by what we do and are naturally, verses doing "acts of righteousness" as proof we are righteous. For example, a car engine that passes the emissions test because the owner (Christ) keeps it in tune by regular maintenance, verses putting a filter on the tailpipe to filter out the poisons that are there because of a faulty engine. The emissions test results may be the same, but in reality, the engines are totally different. Being and doing. The first car is clean and therefore runs clean and any tune-up that is needed will be done by the owner (Christ). The second is not clean running and manipulates the emissions test by putting a filter on the exhaust so as to pass the test, thinking passing the test by any means (acts of righteousness) is proof of a good, clean running engine (true righteousness). Not realizing that it is the owner's (Christ) job to keep the car running in tip-top shape, not the car itself!

I believe that God does not want us to "act righteously" to be a good example, any more than He wants us to sin to show others how gracious He is. All He wants is for us to be found in Him. Exactly who we are, nothing more, nothing less.

He wants to be our righteousness and show us His mercy and grace. Not for us to be manipulators. Just be yourself.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God--all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God. - Rom. 5:8-11