Q166_102326 Rom. 10:1-3 Is Your Enthusiasm For God The Wrong Kind?

Q166_102326 Rom. 10:1-3 Is Your Enthusiasm For God The Wrong Kind?

Curious about how others manage their sobriety journey while wrestling with faith? Here, Colin Cook takes listeners through Romans 9–11 and asks a blunt question: “Is your enthusiasm for God the wrong kind?” It’s aimed at people who are serious about following God, often in recovery from addictions, yet feel worn out by trying to be “good enough.” Colin contrasts two kinds of zeal.

On one side are people “being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness,” who end up trapped in law, rule‑keeping, and harsh self-discipline. He paints a vivid picture of believers who become “very zealous legalists… miserable in that legalism, and judgmental and cold and uninviting,” all while trying to fix themselves and their addictions through sheer effort.

You’ll hear him challenge the impulse to make faith complicated: “Stop making things difficult for yourself… The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart.” Instead of climbing some spiritual ladder, he encourages honest prayer: admitting anger at God, confessing fake righteousness, and resting in the idea that Christ is “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” If you’ve ever felt burned out from trying to fix your life and your addiction by sheer religious effort, this episode might nudge you to ask: what kind of zeal is actually driving you?

On the other side is what he calls God’s righteousness: “Not God helping you to become righteous, but God revealing to you Christ, who is righteousness before God.” Colin explains that Jesus’ perfect love and obedience are credited to those who trust him, so they’re treated “as if we were righteous like Christ when we trust him, even though we’re not.” For anyone exhausted by relapse, shame, or constant striving, that shift from self-righteousness to Christ as righteousness is huge.