Faith at work

DEVOTION

ROMANS

FAITH AT WORK

Rom 10:1-4

10:1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.   3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

NIV

It seems that some believers, even whole denominations, have not grasps this truth. Why do believers insist on trying to live according to the law? This is not to say we should be able to do whatever we want, or desire, but to set up law to abide by seems counterproductive. The fact is none of us can fully abide by the law that was given to Moses and in fact neither could the Israelites. It is also true none of us can fully abide by any set of rules we establish to live by. We have our statement of faith, or what we believe in as an agreement for membership in a church of some denomination.  Most of statements of faith are based on the interpretation of scripture that denomination has determined to be correct. The flaw in this system if believe is two-fold. First, if different denominations have a different statement of faith, or what we believe or a constitution, then which is right or all could be wrong. Secondly, no matter which one we choose to agree with, we still cannot abide by them one hundred percent. We are always going to fail to be perfect in whatever we choose to believe or adhere to any set of rules for living, even as established by the scripture. That fact is any kind of law, however we define law, has no value toward righteousness. Although it is true we do need to make every effort to live in a manner that pleases God, we cannot make that into a set of rules or lists of do’s and don’ts. What pleases God is that be believe in his Son Jesus Christ. Our salvation is dependent on faith in Jesus alone, and faith alone. Our salvation is not Jesus plus something. Our salvation is not dependent on faith plus works. Jesus is our righteousness. However, because we love the Lord and desire to please him, we endeavor to live a holy life with the help of the Spirit. The idea of being under the influence of the Spirit, or God’s grace, is what defines us as believers. Yet we cannot make up rules which we think how we should live, that would be like the Israelites having zeal for God, but is based on knowledge, but flawed knowledge. However, we study the scriptures and gain more insight into how we should conduct ourselves in our daily living. Yet, we cannot refute the idea that a new believer, who has no knowledge of scripture, is saved. Once a person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, acknowledging their sin, repenting of it and turning their live over to Jesus, they are as saved as a believer of fifty years who has read and studied the scriptures. This truth is revealed to us in the parable about the owner of a field who hires harvesters. The first who have worked all day agreed to a wage, and when he hired more latter in the day, he hired them at the same wage. Those who labored all day were upset about those who just were hired and only worked a couple of hours were getting the same wage for the day. That is all about salvation, it does not matter how much we know about scripture, or how great our understanding is, a newborn believer is as saved as we are. Now, do we attempt to educate them in the rules? Do we try to mold them into a rule following disciple? Is that not up to the Spirit to enlighten each believer? He leads us all into the truth. Let us remember our life is one of faith. We believe in Jesus, we believe he will lead us, guide us, instruct us and help us to live a life of faith, a life of bringing glory to him. The whole idea of living by faith is not about how well we can abide by any rule, it is about living in a manner that brings glory and praise to our Lord. This is faith at work.