Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:1-4

This morning our pastor commented on the Israel and the Jewish people reminding us that being found in Christ is more than our religious heritage.

Paul is referring to his Jewish brothers in Chapter 10, as a group of people who are zealous about their religion, but they’ve missed the relationship with God because they refused to surrender to God through Christ.

Even though I know the truth of who Jesus is and am confident in the words of passages like the one above, it is all too easy for me to make the same mistake in my daily Christian walk. Have I made the “rules” of following Christ the priority in my life or am I following and being obedient based on relationship with Christ?

Paul indicates that I should have a zeal for God, but according to real knowledge of the righteousness that comes from God. So from a theological standpoint, the work of Christ on the cross and His physical resurrection is the central point of The Gospel.

Any other works or zeal or gospel is really no truth at all. I can put our trust in the things I don’t do – the rules we keep – and in the end believe a lie, because I did not submit to God’s righteousness.