Philippians 3:9

“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;”

                I always used to wonder how the people before Jesus were saved. If we all sinned and fell short of the glory of God, and if sacrifices didn’t cut it, then how were people saved? The answer lies in the verse, and in Hebrews 11. Faith has always resulted in being counted righteous. In that day and age, they had to look forward to the future and know that God’s promises are true, and say that they believed that God would send a redeemer and a Savior.

                I feel like it takes a lot more faith to believe in that day than it does now. In fact there is so much EVIDENCE sometimes, it hardly feels like you need a lot of faith.

                The evidence for a creator is so powerful. The evidence for the Bible being a factual historical document is many in number. The evidence for Jesus having walked on the earth – for his miracles – for his death – and yes, even his resurrection are full and plentiful.

                But the faith comes in the sovereignty. If God created the universe, communicated to you in various ways and at various times, and then sent his Son to die for you on a cross and be resurrected – what are you to do? That’s where faith, works, and ultimately righteousness come in. Our faith in God’s power leads us to love and obey him. Our faith leads us to a want to be righteous – and not only that, but God still loves us even when we do mess up.

                An amazing story and analogy were presented to me the other day in class. A child was looking out the window at a parade going by. The boy called for his father, “Wow, Dad! Look at that marching band! They’re all dressed in white!”

                The father came over and shook his head, “No, they’re dressed in red.”

                “Dad, I can see them – it’s white!”

                “Son, you must be getting your colors mixed up… see white is the color of this wall here.”

                The boy shook his head exclaiming all the more that he saw white jackets on the marching band. Finally the Father squatted down and looked from the boy’s point of view, and saw that the lower half of the screen was red – and when looking through that half of the screen, it made the jackets look white. This color-canceling effect is the same concept as those games when you’d have to look through a red filter to see the answer on a card for a board game.

                This analogy is so beautiful! “Though our sins are as scarlet, he washes them white as snow.”

                Our faith in Jesus’ blood sacrifice, results in our garments becoming white. He sees us pure and righteous in his sight.

                Today, I will call on the love of my Savior when I’m assailed with guilt about my past – and quote that my sins are washed as white as snow.