After many lost battles of wasting time doing nothing, and realizing that the internet and computer seem to totally sap me of what little motivation I have, I have come to the conclusion that I will have to quit getting on the computer and internet completely. I have tried to limit it, but that resolve only lasted for a time and afterward I was wasting as much time as before. I don't know what else to do, for the computer magnifies what, in my eyes, is one of my greatest shortcomings - laziness. So, I have finally decided that the best thing for now is simply to quit, cold turkey, boom, ya no mas. I'm not saying I'll stay off from now on, but I probably won't get on for a while, by God's grace... not even to check my email... I think I'm going to delete it.
Ya'll please pray for me, I'm really struggling... seeing a lot of areas in my life that are infected with selfishness. May God help me.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Faith and Obedience
I always heard people talk about how faith and works are inseparable, that we can't have one without the other and we shouldn't preach one without the other. But I guess it never really sank in what that means. What does James mean in chapter two of his epistle when he talks about works? Somehow, the concept was never more than a vague sense of doing good works because of our faith in God.
Recently, however, the Lord opened my eyes to what "works" actually is. To start with, James 2:14-26 says,
"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
Now let's go to the story of Abraham mentioned there in James. It is found in Genesis 22:1-18, but the verses I want to focus on are 1-3,
"Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him."
As we see here, Abraham's response was unquestioning obedience in faith that what God had said about Isaac being the child of promise was true, and that God would even raise Isaac from the dead to keep His promise. So the "works" mentioned in James is, in truth, Abraham's obedience. That is what James means when he talks about works... obedience. And so it hit me how important obedience really is. Basically, if we don't obey God it means that we don't love or trust God. Conversely, if we have faith in God we will obey Him.
Many seem to have a disconnect between faith and obedience. We seem to be under the impression that "faith" is more important than works, or obedience. What we so easily forget, and what James emphatically states, is that works is such an integral part of faith that, if works or obedience are absent, our "faith" is not faith at all but simply belief that God exists. Faith without works is dead, meaningless, useless. There is a big difference between believing that there is a God and having faith in God. To believe is simply an acknowledgment of the truth, according to James. But to have faith is to accompany belief with works, or obedience to God's commands. In John 14:21 Jesus says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Obedience is the proof that we truly love God and have faith in Him.
Recently, however, the Lord opened my eyes to what "works" actually is. To start with, James 2:14-26 says,
"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
Now let's go to the story of Abraham mentioned there in James. It is found in Genesis 22:1-18, but the verses I want to focus on are 1-3,
"Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him."
As we see here, Abraham's response was unquestioning obedience in faith that what God had said about Isaac being the child of promise was true, and that God would even raise Isaac from the dead to keep His promise. So the "works" mentioned in James is, in truth, Abraham's obedience. That is what James means when he talks about works... obedience. And so it hit me how important obedience really is. Basically, if we don't obey God it means that we don't love or trust God. Conversely, if we have faith in God we will obey Him.
Many seem to have a disconnect between faith and obedience. We seem to be under the impression that "faith" is more important than works, or obedience. What we so easily forget, and what James emphatically states, is that works is such an integral part of faith that, if works or obedience are absent, our "faith" is not faith at all but simply belief that God exists. Faith without works is dead, meaningless, useless. There is a big difference between believing that there is a God and having faith in God. To believe is simply an acknowledgment of the truth, according to James. But to have faith is to accompany belief with works, or obedience to God's commands. In John 14:21 Jesus says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Obedience is the proof that we truly love God and have faith in Him.
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