Thought from today’s Bible reading from Romans 8-10.
Even though Paul was sent specifically to preach to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13; Acts 22:21), he still had a strong desire that his Jewish brethren would come to Christ and be saved. Unfortunately, many did not. One of their major stumbling blocks that kept them from obeying Christ is mentioned in the following passage:
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:1-3).
The reason why many of Paul’s Jewish brethren were going to be lost was because they did not obey God (“subject themselves to the righteousness of God“). Why did they not obey? It was because they were “seeking to establish their own” righteousness. But why did they do this?
The Jews, generally, did not reject God’s way in Christ for their own way out of a spirit of rebellion. Paul said they had “a zeal for God.” They desired to please Him. Was that enough? No! Their zeal was “not in accordance with knowledge,” which meant that they did not know what they needed to do to please God. This meant that although they wanted to please God, they disobeyed God because of their lack of knowledge of His will.
There are many today who have “a zeal for God” that is “not in accordance with knowledge.” They want to please God but are ignorant of His will. Therefore, with good intentions they serve Him according to what seems best to them. Unfortunately, as this passage makes clear to us, good intentions will not save us. We must know God’s will so we can obey Him according to His will.
To do this, we must study the word of God so that we may know it and obey it. The fate of our souls is too important to trust our assumptions and what others have told us. We must be sure we know the will of God, then be zealous to do it.
Tomorrow’s reading: Romans 11-13
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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