1 John 3:7 “My little children (students of the word), let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he (Christ), is righteous.” Commentary: During those years living in India I had a friend there who had a parrot. He inherited this parrot from his uncle who passed on. His uncle was a police chief of a village in India. His uncle kept the parrot at his police station for many years! So when he received his uncle’s parrot he had no idea of the background of this parrot? The parrot was nice and quiet as long as he was by himself with his new owner! Never said a word and as far as my friend was concerned was a model parrot with no bad habits! However when guests would come over things went bad very quickly! This parrot could also understand the gender differences between his guests! If was a male guest the parrot would begin his charade saying things like, “Ha! Ha! You poisoned your wife! You did it! Confess you bastard! You stole the jewelry! You thief! We got you! Ha! Ha! Ha! You criminal! If it were a lady guest the parrot would change his tune! You prostitute! You killed him! Black mailed him for money! You old bitch! Ha! Ha! Ha! We caught you! Confess or stay in prison! My friend quickly learned when he had guests he had to move the parrot to the back room in his house and close the door on this bird! The truth is we are all copy cats! We have copy right laws! We will copy someone! Either God of the Devil! Who we follow will determine our outcome in life! Good or bad! No man can keep the standards set by God! Only God can keep his own standards! So why try? We are created in the image of God! In his likeness! We are to be like him but we cannot do it on our own! Performance based religion will always fall short and fail! Our faith in God is based on the performance of God and his sacrifice for us on the Cross! It is what God has done for us not for what we do for God that saves us from ourselves! Our relationship to God is what saves us! Forgiven! The heathen say my right is my duty! Christianity says my duty is my right! Religion puts the cart before the horse! The cart becomes the horse! They pull god around in their carts making themselves God! We are only justified by faith in God! When we make God in our own image we become idol worshippers! Our faith is simply based on the works and promises of God! God has a standard no mortal can keep! Only God on the Cross could meet that standard for you! A wicked person rejects the standard of God and tries to meet the standard on his own merit! His own works! A righteous person submits to the judgment of God! The judgment of God delivers the righteous from their sin because that judgment was transferred to his Son on the Cross for us! This is the effectiveness of repentance! To be righteous is to submit to the righteousness of God! To conform to the laws of God as law breakers is to let Christ pay for your unrighteousness or law breaker by accepting the judgment Christ took for you on the Cross! To reject him is to reject righteousness! God’s righteousness is a gift to men and is not earned! We are justified by faith! Our own works oppose the righteousness of God! No mortal can keep the law! Jesus kept the law who never broke the law by going to the Cross for you the lawless one! Our righteousness outside of Christ will never satisfy God! The indwelling Holy Spirit does not come to you until you simply accept what God has already done for you! Confession of your sin and the confession of Christ as your Lord! Self-righteous people will always end up persecuting the church! The Apostle Paul was the best example! After his born again experience on the Road to Damascus he became the biggest promoter of the church! James & Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com