Reading in Romans 11 Paul reminds us as Gentiles that the hearts of the Jews were only temporarily hardened by God because of their disobedience, and God is using it as an opportunity to bring in the Gentiles in while also allowing the Jews to become jealous. Paul is warning us as Gentiles not to become proud over it. Since God is using this opportunity to bring us in while they are in their state of blindness and unbelief and their return will come when the full number of Gentiles come in. Paul uses an analogy of cutting off wild olive branches and grafting in other branches that are unnatural to the tree. He uses this analogy to also warns us not to take for granted or become prideful over the fact that we were brought in because if he was willing to cut off the Jews, which were his chosen people, we as the unnatural branches can just as easily be removed again. To me this is not only a relief and a hope for the restoration of the Jews, but it’s also a reminder that we can’t live loosely under grace. We need to live fully for God and chase after Him with all that we are. We need to pursue God with passion and purpose and not live life with mediocrity. It’s more than a privilege that we were brought in. We were literally saved from death to life so our lives should match that intensity in our gratefulness to serve God with everything in us.
