You can click HERE to read the passage.
There is one verse in particular that stuck out to me from this passage and it may surprise you which one it is. It is not one of the 2 “famous” verses that I mentioned in last week’s post – verse 9 or verse 13. Rather it is verse 2:
“For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.”
This verse is a mandate for missions. It is a mandate for church-planting. It is a mandate for evangelism.
There are billions of people scattered around our globe who are zealous for God. Their religiosity echos their heart’s desire to know God and to have the God-shaped vacuum in their lives filled with the God who created them, loves them, and longs to be reconciled with them.
But their zeal is not based on knowledge. Rather it is based on tradition. Or it is based on heritage. Or it is based on guilt. Or it is based on misinformation.Or it is based on government mandated faith.
Zeal for God must be fed by truth. And when it comes to knowing God, though it is not a tolerant position to take, Christianity has cornered the market regarding truth. The truth of the matter is that LIFE is only found in Christ. Knowing Christ equals knowing God.
Hence, it behooves Christians to do everything that they can to enable the world know this. This is why I say…
…this verse is a mandate for missions. It is a mandate for church-planting. It is a mandate for evangelism.
Next Week’s Passage: Romans 10: 14-21
Memory Verses: Romans 8:1-24