Walking in Jesus is Work in the SPIRIT
Another Martin Luther King Day has passed. It's a day that, in the past, made me think of picking up litter and going to a church program. (It's Thanksgiving that always used to make me think of going to serve meals at the Salvation Army.)
I haven't been able to follow through on many of my hopes during special times of the year, but that's okay.
That's okay, because going to Heaven isn't based on the works that we do.
What I mean by that is that some people do works as if they believe in doing so in order to earn something, or in order to earn our way to Heaven, although the Bible says that's not the way in Jesus.
Christians aren't saved in Jesus through any good that we do. We're saved just through believing on Jesus and trusting in Him to deliver us from a world of sin.
But I guess there is a little catch to that, in that believing on Jesus does motivate us to want freedom from sins, and calls us to want to share God's word more and more.
Confessing faith in Christ is the one work that Jesus says leads to Heaven. Other kinds of works are only the fruit of being able to live out our faith on this side of life.
So, in some Christian's lives, you can easily see the fruit of our belief, in that they are able to serve, or do good works, as a matter of just living and having faith.
In my own life, I've been able to serve only through sharing what I've been called to learn about God's word. And that's okay.
It's okay that posts like this one, online, are the fruit of my faith. It's okay for me to read the Holy Spirit as saying, "For I was hungry for God word, and you gave me the substance of His word; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink of His word; I was a stranger and you took me to church in His word; naked and you clothed me in His word; sick and you visited me with healing in His word; in prison and you came to me with the hope of understanding His word."
"Because, as you have done unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done unto me," Jesus says. (Matthew 25:34-40)
And that reminds me:
There's a popular feeling, in some parts of the church, that animal-like qualities in believers have to be eliminated in order for a believer to be good or made right with Heaven. What a shame that is.
Don't those people know that, even in the New Testament, animal-like characteristics are seen in ways that faith is able to use in good ways?
Just look at what Paul teaches Timothy: "For scripture [in Deuteronomy] says, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain ... ." (1 Timothy 5:18)
And remember how at least two of the crazy prophets of the Old Testament were used of God. Those prophets used a tradition of ancient parables to talk about different people groups. Parables often used animals to symbolize characteristics in different people, whether donkeys or goats or so on.
And we all know how Jesus calls us His sheep.
I haven't been able to follow through on many of my hopes during special times of the year, but that's okay.
That's okay, because going to Heaven isn't based on the works that we do.
What I mean by that is that some people do works as if they believe in doing so in order to earn something, or in order to earn our way to Heaven, although the Bible says that's not the way in Jesus.
Christians aren't saved in Jesus through any good that we do. We're saved just through believing on Jesus and trusting in Him to deliver us from a world of sin.
But I guess there is a little catch to that, in that believing on Jesus does motivate us to want freedom from sins, and calls us to want to share God's word more and more.
Confessing faith in Christ is the one work that Jesus says leads to Heaven. Other kinds of works are only the fruit of being able to live out our faith on this side of life.
So, in some Christian's lives, you can easily see the fruit of our belief, in that they are able to serve, or do good works, as a matter of just living and having faith.
In my own life, I've been able to serve only through sharing what I've been called to learn about God's word. And that's okay.
It's okay that posts like this one, online, are the fruit of my faith. It's okay for me to read the Holy Spirit as saying, "For I was hungry for God word, and you gave me the substance of His word; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink of His word; I was a stranger and you took me to church in His word; naked and you clothed me in His word; sick and you visited me with healing in His word; in prison and you came to me with the hope of understanding His word."
"Because, as you have done unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done unto me," Jesus says. (Matthew 25:34-40)
And that reminds me:
There's a popular feeling, in some parts of the church, that animal-like qualities in believers have to be eliminated in order for a believer to be good or made right with Heaven. What a shame that is.
Don't those people know that, even in the New Testament, animal-like characteristics are seen in ways that faith is able to use in good ways?
Just look at what Paul teaches Timothy: "For scripture [in Deuteronomy] says, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain ... ." (1 Timothy 5:18)
And remember how at least two of the crazy prophets of the Old Testament were used of God. Those prophets used a tradition of ancient parables to talk about different people groups. Parables often used animals to symbolize characteristics in different people, whether donkeys or goats or so on.
And we all know how Jesus calls us His sheep.
Not everyone in this life receives the Holy Spirit. Not everyone wants to. Not everyone wants to have Jesus in heart or Spirit. Everyone has the ability to be Christ-like, but He's just not in everyone right now. Not everyone wants Jesus. It's just a terrible fact of life. ...
"'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty." ~ Zechariah 4:6
Acts 3:1-10 is another good background passage for this post.
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