Sobering Thoughts:
Don’t get caught in the middle of the street with the crowd.
We are saved by faith alone.
But real faith never stays alone… for long.
Because the companion of Real Faith is Real Change…
Real Change happens because someone has Really been Following the Way, Jesus.
And Following The Way… always leads to God’s Spirit changing us from the inside out.
If I say I am a Christian… and there is no change taking place… then I am only fooling myself… and what I am calling “faith” is not what God describes as faith.
Knowledge, intellectual gain, and agreement about things of God are not faith.
Emotional feelings about God are not faith.
Working hard to earn a place with God is not faith.
Faith has a direct result… here on earth… and it begins as soon as one places their faith in God through the work of Jesus. That result is ongoing change… more and more and more like Jesus as we follow Him.
Don’t take my word for it, the New Covenant is full of passages like these:
Matthew 7:21–23
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
Matthew 7:26–27
Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
Luke 6:46
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
James 1:21-22
Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 2:14-26
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.* Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”* He was even called the friend of God.* 24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. 26 Just as the body is dead without breath,* so also faith is dead without good works.
And the New Covenant goes on and on… teaching we are saved by faith alone… but faith quickly has a companion called change.
May we pause and determine if our personal definition of Faith is God’s definition of faith.
It is eternally important that we define faith the way God does.
