The Fruit of Belief
Still thinking about James....
There always seems to be a conflicting thought in my mind when it comes to James. James seems to be so centered to doing that the case could be made that one must do in order to earn grace.
For a person who believe that grace is an unearned gift, this presents a challenge.
Every once and a while, God gives me a reminder -- a gift -- that untangles my thoughts where this is concerned. Read this verse from James 1:
Verse 22: But be doers of the word, not merely hearers who deceive themselves.And then in Disciple again this week (R. Dean Lueking's writing really spoke to me), I found this:
Hearing but not doing the truth is unthinkable in the new creation Christ Jesus has brought.To say that one believes in Christ, believes in God, has devoted oneself to following God, and then to do nothing is evidence of self-deception. How can one believe, and then not respond? It's not the response that earns the grace, it's the response that confirms the belief in the grace, in the Christ, in the God.
Don't deceive yourself; instead, believe, and your belief can't help but yield fruit.
Labels: grace, James, New Testament, works
posted by Kim at 3:48 PM
1 Comments:
Jesus thought so, too. (From Matthew 7):
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
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