But!

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:21-24) 

          But.

Most of the time, but is a bad word. I was once told that when you say “but,” everything before it is a lie. In this case, all the stuff that comes before the “but” was and is absolutely true. The “but” is a relief. After all the bad news of the past several blog posts, and all the condemnation, “but” brings hope. “But” lets us breathe a sigh of relief. We have screwed up. Even our best attempts don’t succeed, but righteousness is possible because God provides it.

This is the difference Jesus Christ makes. This is the reason Christianity is not just another in the many religions in the world. Religions are man’s attempt to please God and man’s attempt to resolve whatever went wrong – and there’s always something that went wrong, something that prevents us from having the sort of life we believe we should. In the developed world, huge efforts continue to solve these problems. We spend billions on education, social infrastructure, government programs designed to help the poor…and while they may mitigate the worst for many, and seem to provide the solution for some, it never quite fixes the problem. The answer always seems to be to spend more money and to work harder.

Part of the problem is that we don’t correctly define the problem. Part of the problem is that we reject the real solution because it’s too easy. The answer to the problem of man is righteousness from God, which He made available through Jesus Christ. The answer to the problems man faces is the righteousness from God, planted in the heart of man, which the Holy Spirit causes to grow. No, the righteousness of God may not make money appear, or heal diseases, but as the image of Christ grows in a person, that person’s response to those things also grows. Those bad things do not steal hope, they are the seeds of hope because hope must begin with the negative to move to the positive. We have spent the last several days wallowing in the negative, but there is now reason to hope.