It’s like many verses we skim over in our Bibles...where you read it, don’t give it much thought and then just keep reading so we can feel good about ‘checking off another chapter read’ for the day. This one is found in Romans 10:1-3. Paul was talking about Jews who had yet to come to Christ.

He mentions how they ‘have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge’. (2). He then explains how they are “ignorant of God’s righteousness...while seeking to establish their own righteousness... and have not submitted to the righteousness of God”. (3). In other words, being ‘sincere....but sincerely wrong’ is not a ‘new thing’.

In my post yesterday, we touched on that ‘other component’ that is mentioned there in Matt. 6:33 where not only are we admonished to ‘seek first...the kingdom of God’ (if we want to be assured of God’s divine provision) but we are also to be seeking first....”HIS righteousness’...as opposed to what ‘we think’ is some standard of righteousness. And there is a lot of them out there today for sure. That happens when Jesus is not truly ‘King’ or ‘Lord’ of our lives. (Judges 17:6; Luke 6:46)

You may be familiar with your denomination’s standard of righteousness that basically teaches you are ‘saved’ because you did ‘such and such’. That may include a simple profession of faith, or being baptized as an infant, or ‘speaking in tongues’, etc. Everyone seems to have their own standard of what it means to be ‘righteous’; but what about God’s standard of righteousness? What is it and what does it look like? And besides...I thought many of us were taught that we could never ‘be righteous enough for God so our simple ‘faith in Jesus’ makes us ‘righteous’, correct? Well...maybe not. I mean, after all, the ‘demons believe’ in Jesus...and they certainly are not thought to be 'righteous'.

Have you ever been working on a project where some ‘measuring ‘ was involved and you got a little lax and resorted to ‘eyeballing’ it, and when done...muttered something about it being ‘close enough for government work’? Yeah...that might work for a lot of us on home projects, but let’s not forget what Jesus said in Matt. 5:48: “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”. Remember that one? And when we ‘sign on’ to follow Him, He makes it quite clear that we are to ‘forsake all’ as we surrender our will and heart to Him so that we might be ‘conformed to HIS image and likeness’. (Rom. 8:28-29). And IF... we are abiding in Him, how will we be walking according to 1 John 2:6?

Did James not give us a heads up telling us that this process will include some ‘testing and trials’ so that in the end, we will be ‘perfect and complete’? (1:4). Did Peter not mention that there would be some ‘suffering’ involved, but in the end, we would have ‘ceased from sinning’? (1 Pet. 5:10; 4:1-2)

And then there is John and his first epistle that can really mess with our ‘theology’ for sure. You might take a quick read there in chapter 3:4-10 as he explains how you can easily tell who the ‘children of God are...and who the children of the devil are’. Then, 2:29 reminds us that: “IF...we know He is righteous, we know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” Oh, you might also underline 4:17 where we are told that “all unrighteousness is sin...”. So when Paul tells us in Romans 1:18 that “God’s wrath IS (not will be) being revealed from heaven against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men...” things might all of a sudden begin to look a tad more serious than what we have been led to believe; especially when most are taught that they will always continue to ‘sin because they are sinners saved by grace’.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, a closer look as to what ‘sin’ is...and isn’t.