You can know the gospel, believe it is true, spend your entire life in church, and still never actually trust Jesus. That is the sobering question at the heart of Romans 10:5-13.

Paul draws a line between achieving and receiving. The righteousness of the law demands that you do. The righteousness of faith asks what God has already done. Christ came down. Christ died. Christ rose. The word is near you.

Saving faith is not just knowing facts about Jesus or agreeing they are true. It is putting the full weight of your life on Him, the way you stop standing and finally sit down in a chair. And the promise is breathtaking: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Is there someone in your life you have been praying for? Do not decide for them that they are beyond reach. Keep praying. Keep loving. Keep inviting.