Day 207

2 Chronicles 17:1–18:34; Romans 9:25–10:13; Psalm 20:1-9; Proverbs 20:2-3

AS WE’VE FOLLOWED the path Paul laid out in Romans, we see clearly that he was not attempting to throw the religion he was raised in (Judaism) out the window in favor of a different belief system. Rather, he was attempting to reveal that Jesus was the continuation of a story that came through Abraham’s children, so that the people of the world may find their way to God.

As a well-educated and deeply devoted Pharisee, Paul had attempted to find his way to God through strict adherence to the Mosaic law, only to discover the impossibility of becoming perfect in his own strength. Paul began to realize the essence of Jesus’ teachings: that God’s people had lost the plot of the story and were trying to obey a set of rules that were no longer connected to their spiritual underpinnings. This shift sucked the life out of the law and left only the shell of ritual behind. Or as Paul put it,

The people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him.

For Paul (and Jesus), this was where the train had gone off the tracks and derailed. The law was to continually remind them of what God had brought them out of and to lead them into utter dependence on and true intimacy with Himself. Instead, the law had become a source of power and control that led people to believe they could achieve righteousness before God in their own strength if they could obey it perfectly —which no one could. As Paul put it,

I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.

Paul revealed that Jesus was the first person to fulfill the law —the first person who was perfect. And Jesus didn’t do this through strictly adhering to ritual. Rather, He fulfilled the law through utter dependence on and true intimacy with God, which can happen only through faith —“the reality of what we hope for . . . the evidence of things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Paul recognized the impossibility of obeying the law perfectly. No one had ever been able to do it. But this very impossibility was the point. The law was to lead us to the end of our own feeble attempts to be righteous and force us to take a leap of faith into true intimacy with the righteousness of God.

If you live your life under a cloud, wondering when the mighty hammer of God’s displeasure with you will finally fall, then take heart. That is not what is going on here. Faith in Christ is the bridge, and once you cross it, you have been made perfect in God’s sight. Your upbringing or ethnicity doesn’t matter. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord has a free invitation:

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”

If you’ve never crossed this threshold and entered into a relationship with God, this is your time. If you’ve lived with a ritualistic faith that has led you to constantly live in fear, this is your time to walk in freedom. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

BENEDICTION:

In times of trouble, may the LORD answer your cry. May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm.