Right with God

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
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Right with God
Chaulk it up to our own success as a nation, but we Americans have a difficult time believing there is nothing we can’t do. Now, that mentality has served us well in taming a continent, but it is a poor source of guidance when it comes to our salvation. There is no amount of self-determination or work ethic that will contribute to our salvation. God has done it all for us. The cross has the final say in these matters. Here, Paul looks backward to God’s sovereign choice in Israel’s history and forward to the necessity of faith and the guilt of unbelief. Every effort to get right with God by works of the Law, however sincere, is doomed to failure. God is the giver of righteousness to everyone who believes. It is only through the gift of faith that we understand this. And it is only in faith that we can exclaim with the psalmist, “O my God, in You I trust; let me not be put to shame.”