A now defunct airline once had an internal morale program called “Operation Bootstrap.” (It actually worked pretty well for a while). Human beings, though, can never lift themselves up by their “spiritual bootstraps.” Our salvation, and the righteousness that comes with it, must be sought but only in the sense of seeking to know it as what it is, a free gift to us from a loving God.
What does it truly mean for a believer to hunger and thirst after righteousness? It means to deeply desire God and His righteousness and to understand that He gives us a good heart through our faith in His perfectly good Son.
We do not have an innately good heart and we cannot give ourselves one. Christians need to give up both illusions completely. To do so is just to take God at His word.
The Bible makes it clear that only our Lord’s shed blood makes us righteous, and then only as we put our faith in Him to receive that righteousness.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” -Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)
