Self-righteousness is a device we use to cope with shame. When we are exposed, we seek something to cover us – something with substance that we can hide behind to divert away from our nakedness. Like Adam and Eve, we sew together fig leaves.

These fig leaves can be anything. When you and I compare ourselves to those around us and latch on to things we feel like we possess in order to feel good about our own standing, we are being self-righteous. This whole process is rooted in fear. Fear that I am not enough, that I won’t make the cut, that if I’m uncovered for what I truly am, then I will be exposed for being a failure and a fool.

But here’s the problem. The things we seek to hide behind (our fig leaves) seem sufficient, but never actually are…

When we are in God’s presence, we can’t find comfort in comparing ourselves to people around us because suddenly the holiness of God is the standard, not what we perceive to be the conduct of our neighbor. All we feel is self-unrighteous. We are exposed for what we truly are, and the merits that we thought we accomplished are like filthy rags.

In Genesis 3 in a powerful foreshadowing of what’s to come, God sees the insufficiency of Adam and Eve’s fig leaves and kills an animal to give them an adequate covering. The reality is that what we need to cover our shame and give us righteousness cannot come from us. It must come from God.

Here’s what I’m realizing in my own life. Self-righteousness is a disease. It is so deeply imprinted into my flesh that unless I continually remind myself of the Gospel, I will constantly act out of motivations that are bent towards self-righteousness. I must discipline myself to remember what’s true.

God through Christ covers the shameful. Trying to cover ourselves through what we can accomplish is not only fruitless but burdensome.