Romans 3:27-31

Romans 3:27-31
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Paul gets pretty confusing sometimes, but remember what he's trying to do -- he's trying to help the Jews understand how thousands of years of history have led to this point, and now he's asking them to set aside many of their traditions and take up a new way of life.  He's asking them to change how they've been living for a long time, and change is hard.  It's easy to see why others should change.  It's much harder to allow ourselves to be changed.
  But Paul is teaching us that we don't earn God's grace -- it's a free gift, and God is the good giver, and this grace he's giving is in the same tradition, but it looks different.  The reason it looks different is because over the years, our lens become clouded, and we can't see as clearly as we once did, and so we need to be sure that we are following God with our whole hearts, ensuring that our traditions bring us closer to God, lest our traditions become the end in themselves.
  So let us humbly examine what we do, and make sure we are doing it for the right reasons.  Let us pursue God with passion and faith, and may we listen wisely when people we trust are advising us.  They often have our best interests at heart, and the more we listen, the more we will hear areas of our lives which we need to change.