If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.
Being ‘religious’ is not the way to be right with God!
Paul kept every possible religious rule there was. He had the entire Bible memorized. But he had to leave all of his own goodness behind and trust in Christ’s righteousness in order to be right with God.
You may have been confirmed and baptized. You may be active in church. But none of that makes you right with God. God accepts us when we trust in His grace alone.
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