In this verse of Scripture, Paul is addressing the nation of Israel and their zealousness for God. He describes it as mindless excitement. They have the zeal but it is based on their own righteousness, their own works. However, we are not saved by "works" we are saved by our belief in the Son of God, Jesus.
Sometimes we see this in the body of Christ. People may become saved and the next thing you know they want to be a minister without having the proper training. They will put the cart before the horse and end up confusing a lot of people. We must be careful not to do this, because that is us trying to seek our own righteousness. We must remember to always submit to the righteousness of Christ.
What does it mean to submit to the righteousness of Christ? It means that our righteousness comes from the redemptive works that Christ performed when He was nailed to the Cross. Our righteousness does not come from works. It does not come from how long we pray, or how many people we give to. It only comes through the shed blood of Christ. We are to point others in the direction of salvation.
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This reminds me so much about why the school I was teaching in had failed. We as black people are so ambitious with our big plans for the future. What we are lacking are the finer details and the preparation to get our acts together. I go back to the principal of the school. She was well intentioned and everything but she did not think her school through with any meticulous foresight. Everything was rush-rush, patch-patch. The school did not prosper, she couldn’t pay her teachers, and the school closed leaving her on “mountains of debt”.
Well Rome was not built in a day (as the saying goes) and good things come to those who wait and see the light of knowledge. And this applies to life in general. The black community is one of the most ‘God-believing’ communities, bar none. But are we really God-fearing? Sure we have a lot of churches and the religious zeal is there; however, “Zeal without knowledge can be best described as having the desire to accomplish a goal, but lacking the knowledge it takes to accomplish it.” So we must come to know the Lord, because if we did, if we really did, I guarantee you that crime and violence would decrease in the black community. We would be knowledgeable about what God wants for us and it would show.
The black community is one of the most ‘God-believing’ communities, bar none.
My Pastor said this same thing last night in Bible study. He asked why are we one of the most praying communities but have the most crime? He concluded because we are not God fearing. That previous generations had the fear of God (even though they did not have the know of His principles and Kingdom way of living), but they at least obeyed God to the best of their ability. Now people today have no fear of God, and no Kingdom principles.
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