James 2: 14-25
James 2:17 "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead," (NIV).
An old friend of mine sent me a message on Facebook yesterday that brought me to this passage. He was explaining that he has been out of church for a while now, after the one he used to attend separated and revealed a lot of what was taking place behind the scenes. Since then, he has struggled to find his way back to a church home and asked for suggestion on how to return back to religion after being away for so long. Now I won't go into all that I said, but the driving point was that in order to complete this return, he would have to decide that's what he wants to do and then do it. That brought me to this passage, and this brings me to what I think we can learn from James' words here in Chapter 2.
Do your part. James brings up an interesting topic here in talking about good deeds. He says that faith alone is useless if it is not attached to an action. It's useless to believe that God will bless the homeless when you aren't out helping yourself. It's useless to believe God will provide you with a job if you haven't filled out an application. It's useless to believe God will give you a mate,when you decline any opportunity to go on a date. In each of these situations, believing in God, His power and His sovereignty can only go so far before it's time to do something yourself.
James uses the example of Abraham offering his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice saying that if Abraham had not went through with preparing the sacrifice, then God would not have seen him as righteous even though Abraham believed that God existed, (James 2:20-24). I'll take it another step further and mention Peter walking on water. Matthew 14 tells us the story of Jesus walking on the lake to get back to the boat where his disciples were. Once on the water, the disciples were afraid and Jesus told them, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid," (Matt. 14:27). Peter then spoke up and asked Jesus to call for him to walk on the water as well. Jesus obliged and Peter began to walk. It took a lot of faith for Peter to believe that it was Jesus he saw on that water and not just his imagination but it took even more action to actually go to Jesus. All Jesus could do was give Peter the ability to walk on the water by saying "Come.," but Peter had to take the first step on his own.
There isn't one area in our lives where faith alone has any worth. Even our salvation comes with an action. Romans 10:9-10 tells us that, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved," (NIV). The first thing that Paul tells us is to declare, (or confess in other versions) which is an action. It comes before believing in this passage of scripture which shows that it is equally as important as faith.
We have to take the first step in our own lives just as Peter did on the lake. We can't just settle for believing that God exists and is all powerful because as James says, "Even the demons believe that--and shudder,"(v.19). We know that "with God all things are possible," but in order for anything to happen in our lives we have to first do our part by taking the first step, (Matt. 19:26, NIV).
Be Blessed,
R.I.C.
Showing posts with label Blessings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blessings. Show all posts
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
In The Midst
Nehemiah 9: 32-38
Nehemiah 9: 33 "In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong."
Today's Righteous Roulette brought me to Nehemiah and yet again, God gave me a word from what seemed like nowhere. This time we find the Israelites in the midst of slavery and there are a couple things we can take from this part of their history. So let's jump right into what I think this chapter teaches.
1. Learn your lesson. In this chapter of Nehemiah, the Israelites are confessing their sins and asking for forgiveness as was customary in their law. However, this particular confession was unique from what we may see as confessing nowadays. The Israelite people were confessing not only for their current situations, but for past transgressions that their ancestors had committed against God. The funny thing about the whole situation, however, is that it sounds like a broken record as they repeat the same sins over and over again as a people. God blesses them, they get spoiled, they worship some other idols, God punishes them by allowing them to get conquered, they beg for forgiveness and God blesses them again. Then the entire cycle repeats itself over and over again, (read the beginning of chapter 9 for details).
As an observer, I found the Israelites to be foolish to try God that way time after time and not believe there would be some sort of consequence for their actions but then I realized we do the same thing everyday. Whether it's worshiping other idols, (actors, sports stars or even our Pastors and Bishops) lying, cheating, stealing or lusting, we still repeat the same sins constantly and then wonder why certain desires in our life aren't fulfilled or why life just seems hard.
Paul tells us in Romans that "where sin increased, grace increased all the more," and many of us take that for granted knowing that God will forgive us, (5:20, NIV). However, he goes on to say in Chapter 6, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!," (v 1-2, NIV). Just because we know that God will forgive us if we confess our sins, doesn't mean that we should continue to be disobedient. Jesus told us, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching," so even if we aren't obedient to avoid the consequences, we should do so simply because we say that we love God, (John 14:23 NIV). We know that actions speak louder than words so prove to God you love him by learning your lesson and turning away from sin.
2. Praise Him in Advance. The other important lesson that stuck out to me in this story is the fact that in the midst of their slavery, the Israelites were celebrating. They were celebrating as the recounted the many times they turned away from God. They celebrated as they recounted every time they were made slaves and every time God punished them for their disobedience. They celebrated even as they were enslaved at that moment for the same disobedience and did so not because they enjoyed being slavery, but because across that same history of disobedience and punishment, there was a history of grace, mercy and redemption. God gave the Israelites chance after chance and they knew that God loved them so much He would be willing to give them another chance if they turned their attention back towards Him.
There are countless situations where praising God in the middle of your trouble has brought nothing but reward. Never have I read a story where praising God at your lowest point has only made troubles worse and never resulted in some sort of breakthrough. Whether it was Daniel in the lions den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace, Paul and Silas in prison or Job's unfortunate chain of events, each of them praised God when it seemed like a hopeless situation and God showed up every time.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us "Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus," (NIV). Don't let you situation prevent you from fulfilling God's will for you. Whether up or down, rich or poor, happy or sad, the joy of God should always be with you so praise God in advance for what he can and will do in your life.
Be Blessed,
R.I.C.
Nehemiah 9: 33 "In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong."
Today's Righteous Roulette brought me to Nehemiah and yet again, God gave me a word from what seemed like nowhere. This time we find the Israelites in the midst of slavery and there are a couple things we can take from this part of their history. So let's jump right into what I think this chapter teaches.
1. Learn your lesson. In this chapter of Nehemiah, the Israelites are confessing their sins and asking for forgiveness as was customary in their law. However, this particular confession was unique from what we may see as confessing nowadays. The Israelite people were confessing not only for their current situations, but for past transgressions that their ancestors had committed against God. The funny thing about the whole situation, however, is that it sounds like a broken record as they repeat the same sins over and over again as a people. God blesses them, they get spoiled, they worship some other idols, God punishes them by allowing them to get conquered, they beg for forgiveness and God blesses them again. Then the entire cycle repeats itself over and over again, (read the beginning of chapter 9 for details).
As an observer, I found the Israelites to be foolish to try God that way time after time and not believe there would be some sort of consequence for their actions but then I realized we do the same thing everyday. Whether it's worshiping other idols, (actors, sports stars or even our Pastors and Bishops) lying, cheating, stealing or lusting, we still repeat the same sins constantly and then wonder why certain desires in our life aren't fulfilled or why life just seems hard.
Paul tells us in Romans that "where sin increased, grace increased all the more," and many of us take that for granted knowing that God will forgive us, (5:20, NIV). However, he goes on to say in Chapter 6, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!," (v 1-2, NIV). Just because we know that God will forgive us if we confess our sins, doesn't mean that we should continue to be disobedient. Jesus told us, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching," so even if we aren't obedient to avoid the consequences, we should do so simply because we say that we love God, (John 14:23 NIV). We know that actions speak louder than words so prove to God you love him by learning your lesson and turning away from sin.
2. Praise Him in Advance. The other important lesson that stuck out to me in this story is the fact that in the midst of their slavery, the Israelites were celebrating. They were celebrating as the recounted the many times they turned away from God. They celebrated as they recounted every time they were made slaves and every time God punished them for their disobedience. They celebrated even as they were enslaved at that moment for the same disobedience and did so not because they enjoyed being slavery, but because across that same history of disobedience and punishment, there was a history of grace, mercy and redemption. God gave the Israelites chance after chance and they knew that God loved them so much He would be willing to give them another chance if they turned their attention back towards Him.
There are countless situations where praising God in the middle of your trouble has brought nothing but reward. Never have I read a story where praising God at your lowest point has only made troubles worse and never resulted in some sort of breakthrough. Whether it was Daniel in the lions den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace, Paul and Silas in prison or Job's unfortunate chain of events, each of them praised God when it seemed like a hopeless situation and God showed up every time.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us "Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus," (NIV). Don't let you situation prevent you from fulfilling God's will for you. Whether up or down, rich or poor, happy or sad, the joy of God should always be with you so praise God in advance for what he can and will do in your life.
Be Blessed,
R.I.C.
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