Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus
There’s been a debate raging among Christians for a long time about whether we are saved by faith or by works. On one side of the debate are those who say that we simply need to believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord of our life. In the other camp are those that say we must earn our salvation by the things we do. I submit to you that the Biblical model is not a question of faith or works, but rather the combination of faith and works.
In my previous post (see “Think on These Things, Part 1”) we discussed the importance of what we allowed into our minds. I’d like to continue that discussion today. If you recall, we focused our attention on Philippians 4:8, which says, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.” (HCSB). So what does this look like as we apply it in our daily lives?
My father used to have a sign on his desk that read, “If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” If you are a Western Christian like myself, there’s a good chance the answer to that question would be ‘no’. In fact, from what I have seen and read, a large number of those professing to believe in Jesus are actually frauds. We claim to follow the teachings of Christ, but in practice we do anything but that. Jesus had strong words for the hypocrites of His day (Matthew 7:4-5; Matthew 15:5-9; Matthew 23:13-15); do you think His position has softened over the years?
I heard David Platt ask an interesting question recently. The question was, “Does the Word stop with you or spread through you?” In other words, when you listen to a sermon, read the Bible, or gain spiritual insight from a song, a book or other means, what do you do with what you learn? Do you keep it to yourself and internalize the lesson? Or do you receive what you have learned in order to teach it to someone else? It’s great to grow closer to God and use what we learn to more closely model our lives after His, but until we are sharing our knowledge with others, we are falling short of the things He told us to do.
God has a vision for your life. He created you with a unique blend of talents and passions. Have you yet caught this vision? Do you understand what you are to do with your life? I think we often make the mistake of trying to determine what big thing we can do, something that will have an enormous impact. Instead we should be aware of the little opportunities that surround us every day. No one needs to be famous to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. You don’t need to be in the professional ministry. I chose not to say “full time ministry”, because all followers of Christ are in full time ministry, not just those who get paid for it. Understand that we should always be doing the work of Jesus.