“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:7-9).

There aren’t many people more religious than Paul was before he met Jesus. He kept the law and did everything he could to be righteous through his own effort. His conclusion about his religious past is one of the reasons that he clung so relentlessly to God’s grace. He said of his efforts, “I consider everything a loss…. I consider them garbage.”

What did he discover that caused him to leave religion behind? He found “the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ.” He learned the lesson God wants us to learn. We can’t achieve righteousness through our own performance. The law produces religion but faith in Christ produces a true righteousness that comes from God.

It isn’t a matter of either being religious or being lawless. It is a matter of knowing Christ through faith or ending up with the emptiness that comes from our own law-keeping that doesn’t produce the life God desires. Paul’s testimony is the same as ours. The only righteousness that counts is the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

We who have seen the emptiness of our failed attempts to please God by keeping the law can be eternally grateful that God accepts our faith in Christ. That is what produces righteousness. That’s the reason we can say with Paul that it isn’t religion God wants from us, but a relationship with His Son, Jesus, through faith.