I'm a sinner, had I faced death earlier, I might had had to greet hell:
I'm no saint, if you have read this blog before, you know I've struggled with much in my life, I have always thought of myself as a "good enough Christian" but good enough according to who? well, not according to the bible, nor according to Jesus, according to myself.
It is dangerous to do just that, I know, been there & done than. However, what led me into such place? well, Not lack of mere faith, lack of commitment I'd say. You see, its true that Faith alone saves (well, as I interpret the bible at least, and this being the most congruent idea with Jesus' sacrifice, I'll later explain), but its not mere "I believe in Jesus" type of faith, Jesus himself said it best in 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.
(22) On that say many will say "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and cast out demons in your name?
(23) And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you;
depart from me, you workers of lawlessness'."
What can we understand from this? well, its not only to do mighty works, nor is all about prophesy in His name, what can be then? this people that He talks about seem to have had Faith, and also worked upon them, it seems all criteria are met, isnt it? well, maybe not, one thing might be lacking, and we cant know that from this alone, we need to have a deeper understanding from the scripture, here John Chapter 15 Helps us a lot. I'd love to put some verses that summarize everything, but this chapter needs to be read in its full detail, at least verses 1 through 17 for this specific post, but in its whole is pretty useful. please, go and read it here (ESV) or here (KJV).
Now, if you dont wish to read it, lets summarize it, here Jesus is telling us that 1) He is the true vine and His father the vinedresser. 2) outside Him there's no life and 3) However abides in Him got eternal life.
Also, Here Jesus says the following as well in verse 11:
These thing I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you,
and that joy be full
So, as we see, Jesus is talking about abiding in him, this is the last part of whats needed for salvation (In my opinion), Of course Faith saves, but frankly, not all faith does, its not all about saying "I believe in you Lord" and doing your "duty" as a Christian, but rather, giving, loving, and abiding in Jesus with joy. Thats the mark of someone worthy of Jesus abiding in Him. Jesus didnt serve others or teach out of obligation, he did it out of love, out of joy, and always in a state of upmost hapiness. This is the Key, thats why I dont think many Christians would be pleased if Jesus came and started reading the book of life, because even if they Say "Lord, Lord" and do mighty works, they fail to do it out of love. Many christians do what they do because they have to, but not because they want to. I think thats the key.
I have a friend that its an Agnostic (who doesnt) and talking about this she told me "It's not that I believe its a stupid thing to believe there is a God, neither it is that I have better arguments for its non existence, nor do i condemn those who believe, I in fact envy y'all; you guys live with such joy, such certainty, such faith, you guys are not afraid bout if you are right, or living life how you should, you are not bothered with earthly concerns. You live such lives that I truly envy you, in the face of danger, of trouble, you guys have such peace of mind that its astonishing. I wished I believe, and I'd love to, but I can't, I don't know why, but I simply can't" . This friend of mine continuously helps out in a local church because she likes helping, but she's not a theist by no means, yet, and I'm truly happy to say this, me, and the Christians of that church, have shown her what true Christians are, She has seen us walk in love, in patience, face trouble and have faith while doing so, she sees how our love and trust in Jesus has changed our lives.
That, what this friend has seen, is what every christian should be. NOT someone who believes in God and Jesus because was raised like that, not a christian that prays because its their duty, nor a christian that does good deeds out of some sense of "If I believe, I have to do this". Dont get me wrong, doing thins because you should its fine, its good. God knows we would love to follow the desires of the flesh over his path a ton of times, but we dont because we trust Him. Yet, this alone is not good enough, just like those how Jesus never knew, we ought to be transformed, we ought to start living like that because we want, because Jesus' word is so powerful, that we no longer desire living like we used to.
Like Jefferson Bethke puts it "because when you’re sick and thirsty, toilet water might be attractive, but if you got something better, bro then toilet water looks nasty" who will stay in darkness, brokenness, and a life of spiritual death, once they have Jesus? once they have the Holy Spirit working within them? No one.
So as Luke 6:45 goes:
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good,
and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil,
for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
So saving Faith, saving Grace will be made known by your actions, not by words. When you see that christian that leaves everything behind to help someone with a smile, you know you have found someone that has been changed by their faith, someone who not only believes and puts his mind, body, and will to the service of God, but that does all of that with a big smile and joyful. At the end, as always, Love is the indicator of a saved chrisitan.
At the very core of Christianity rests a couple of core things, all represented on Jesus last night on earth while dinning with the disciples:
Faith: Jesus had put all of his trust in God's plan. He never doubted, he didn't resist. He didnt argue, he followed. This is the dual nature of saving faith, not only is believing, but believing so hard, that your heart changes, and you stop following, obeying, doing because you have to, but because you want to, you start longing to follow God's plan, you start desiring to obey, and you start doing because there's nothing that bring you more joy.
Love: On this night, Jesus treats the apostles not as followers, not as pupils, but as friends, as peers, and he rejoices over their company this is what a Christian should do, no matter who we are, nor where we are, to treat each other with respect and love.
Service: Jesus Served the apostles, he served wine and bread, he invited them to eat. Even when he was fully God, even being the messiah, HE served the apostles. There's no such thing as being "above" serving. We all must serve, even Jesus did.
Forgiveness: Sitting there, among them, was a traitor, someone who would, for money betray Jesus, someone who would deny him even to a little girl for his own sake, and people who would doubt his very words of being the messiah and coming back not even a week after his death. As human, many of us, having been in Jesus' feet, would have cussed at them, tell them to go F themselves, to leave now, to not sit with us... Jesus served them bread and wine. To the traitor, to the denier, to the doubtful. He forgave all of it, and even in the cross, he forgave them. Jesus forgives, so we should
Gratitude: Jesus was hours from excruciating torture and death. Yet, he have thanks for the food, for the opportunity to be with the apostles and for even his upcoming death. Jesus gave thanks for the good and the bad because he knew that it was all in God's plan. So we should. John, in the Gospel according to John, chapter 11 writes about how Jesus, upon receiving notice that his best friend Lazarus was extremely ill, delayed his visit to him. Once he arrived to Bethany, Lazarus was dead, and everyone asked why wasnt he there earlier to stop him from dying. Jesus answer? "I'm happy that this happened, and Lazarus illness is not for grief, but for the Glory of God" Why? because even the death of someone, was part of the Lord's plan. in this case, to show everyone how Jesus was really in control over life AND death.
Faith, Love, Service, Forgiveness and Gratitude where all present on Jesus Last night. I think this are the pillars of Christianity, and whichever part of Jesus' life or the apostle's afterwards, you can see this. The new covenant of God and man through Jesus Christ is that to me and to many other Christians. However, all of this pillars can be summarized in the First, as Jesus teaches once and again, Faith will show itself as love, obedience, service to others, forgiveness and gratitude.
True faith Saves, Faith that has all of this elements saves. Faith that its a mere "I believe" its not enough.
May God bless y'all
I have a friend that its an Agnostic (who doesnt) and talking about this she told me "It's not that I believe its a stupid thing to believe there is a God, neither it is that I have better arguments for its non existence, nor do i condemn those who believe, I in fact envy y'all; you guys live with such joy, such certainty, such faith, you guys are not afraid bout if you are right, or living life how you should, you are not bothered with earthly concerns. You live such lives that I truly envy you, in the face of danger, of trouble, you guys have such peace of mind that its astonishing. I wished I believe, and I'd love to, but I can't, I don't know why, but I simply can't" . This friend of mine continuously helps out in a local church because she likes helping, but she's not a theist by no means, yet, and I'm truly happy to say this, me, and the Christians of that church, have shown her what true Christians are, She has seen us walk in love, in patience, face trouble and have faith while doing so, she sees how our love and trust in Jesus has changed our lives.
That, what this friend has seen, is what every christian should be. NOT someone who believes in God and Jesus because was raised like that, not a christian that prays because its their duty, nor a christian that does good deeds out of some sense of "If I believe, I have to do this". Dont get me wrong, doing thins because you should its fine, its good. God knows we would love to follow the desires of the flesh over his path a ton of times, but we dont because we trust Him. Yet, this alone is not good enough, just like those how Jesus never knew, we ought to be transformed, we ought to start living like that because we want, because Jesus' word is so powerful, that we no longer desire living like we used to.
Like Jefferson Bethke puts it "because when you’re sick and thirsty, toilet water might be attractive, but if you got something better, bro then toilet water looks nasty" who will stay in darkness, brokenness, and a life of spiritual death, once they have Jesus? once they have the Holy Spirit working within them? No one.
So as Luke 6:45 goes:
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good,
and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil,
for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
So saving Faith, saving Grace will be made known by your actions, not by words. When you see that christian that leaves everything behind to help someone with a smile, you know you have found someone that has been changed by their faith, someone who not only believes and puts his mind, body, and will to the service of God, but that does all of that with a big smile and joyful. At the end, as always, Love is the indicator of a saved chrisitan.
At the very core of Christianity rests a couple of core things, all represented on Jesus last night on earth while dinning with the disciples:
Faith: Jesus had put all of his trust in God's plan. He never doubted, he didn't resist. He didnt argue, he followed. This is the dual nature of saving faith, not only is believing, but believing so hard, that your heart changes, and you stop following, obeying, doing because you have to, but because you want to, you start longing to follow God's plan, you start desiring to obey, and you start doing because there's nothing that bring you more joy.
Love: On this night, Jesus treats the apostles not as followers, not as pupils, but as friends, as peers, and he rejoices over their company this is what a Christian should do, no matter who we are, nor where we are, to treat each other with respect and love.
Service: Jesus Served the apostles, he served wine and bread, he invited them to eat. Even when he was fully God, even being the messiah, HE served the apostles. There's no such thing as being "above" serving. We all must serve, even Jesus did.
Forgiveness: Sitting there, among them, was a traitor, someone who would, for money betray Jesus, someone who would deny him even to a little girl for his own sake, and people who would doubt his very words of being the messiah and coming back not even a week after his death. As human, many of us, having been in Jesus' feet, would have cussed at them, tell them to go F themselves, to leave now, to not sit with us... Jesus served them bread and wine. To the traitor, to the denier, to the doubtful. He forgave all of it, and even in the cross, he forgave them. Jesus forgives, so we should
Gratitude: Jesus was hours from excruciating torture and death. Yet, he have thanks for the food, for the opportunity to be with the apostles and for even his upcoming death. Jesus gave thanks for the good and the bad because he knew that it was all in God's plan. So we should. John, in the Gospel according to John, chapter 11 writes about how Jesus, upon receiving notice that his best friend Lazarus was extremely ill, delayed his visit to him. Once he arrived to Bethany, Lazarus was dead, and everyone asked why wasnt he there earlier to stop him from dying. Jesus answer? "I'm happy that this happened, and Lazarus illness is not for grief, but for the Glory of God" Why? because even the death of someone, was part of the Lord's plan. in this case, to show everyone how Jesus was really in control over life AND death.
Faith, Love, Service, Forgiveness and Gratitude where all present on Jesus Last night. I think this are the pillars of Christianity, and whichever part of Jesus' life or the apostle's afterwards, you can see this. The new covenant of God and man through Jesus Christ is that to me and to many other Christians. However, all of this pillars can be summarized in the First, as Jesus teaches once and again, Faith will show itself as love, obedience, service to others, forgiveness and gratitude.
True faith Saves, Faith that has all of this elements saves. Faith that its a mere "I believe" its not enough.
May God bless y'all
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