Faith or Hard Work

There have been so many discussions over thousands of years about what it takes to be in right relationship with God. 

I’m grateful for the clear teaching in many places in the Bible that lets us know that God gifts us with forgiveness and salvation through our faith in what Jesus has done for us.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:23-24

I’m also challenged by what we are called to with these words:

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. James 2:17, 26

The best way I can understand this is that we clearly can’t earn our freedom from sin but we also clearly haven’t really trusted in God’s gift to us if nothing in our thinking and behaviour changes after we say we have put our faith in Jesus.

If I’m starving and someone gives me $100 to buy food it would not make sense for me to put that $100 in my pocket and not go to the grocery store but remain hungry until I starve. 

In the same way, God wants us to know His great love and amazing forgiveness and if we really do experience that and receive that, there will be such gratitude in us that we will begin to live differently. 

It’s not all an instant change, of course. There is a journey of getting to know God’s will and making choices to trust His way and line up our actions with it. We will make mistakes.  We will have to deal with the battle that goes on in our minds about who knows best – God or us – and who’s way will work in our situation.  It’s a crazy thought but we all do it, don’t we?

But, if our faith is in God, we and others will notice a change in us and something new and fresh and grace-filled being expressed in what we think, say, and do.

Loving God, we are so grateful for the Lord Jesus who died on the cross to save us from our sins and to bring us into loving relationship with You.  Help us today to bring all that we think, say, and do under that umbrella. Forgive us for our self-will and our doubts that keep us from behaving in new ways. 

Help us to grow more like You today as we make intentional choices to act like You would act in our situations.  Amen

So, it’s not faith or works but faith clearly demonstrated  in good works. Let’s receive all that God is giving us today and live differently because of it.