James 2:14-19 (NIV) ~ What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say,”You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.
There is more to having an authentic relationship with Christ Jesus than just believing He exists. The next verse (20) in James 2 says that faith without deeds is a useless faith. Verse 19 tells us that even Satan and the demons believe that God is real. Their belief in God does not mean that they have a personal relationship with God.
When you have truly surrendered to Christ and are an authentic Christian, that is not THE END. There’s more to it. We are supposed to keep moving forward in our Christian walk. Walking = Moving = Progress.
There is an initial point of surrender, a daily surrender to Christ, and a full surrender to Christ. Even when you are fully surrendered to Him, you will still have to surrender daily and even minute by minute.
There is head knowledge and then there is heart knowledge.
To truly be saved, your relationship with Christ is supposed to be in constant growth.
You can tell someone something all day long, if your actions prove otherwise then your words won’t amount to much. Your life should look different after you accept Christ as your Savior than it did before. If it doesn’t and if you don’t have the conviction of the Holy Spirit, then you might ask God to search you and show you the Truth.
Psalm 139:23-24 ~ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
You can’t earn your way to Heaven with good works…NO! Salvation can never be earned…It is a GIFT from God. There for the taking. Non-returnable. FREE! Bought and paid for by Christ Jesus on the cross!!
Ephesians 2:8,9 ~ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
A true Christian (authentic believer in Christ), will want to do things for Christ because he/she loves Christ! Not out of duty or to impress others. God doesn’t force us to accept Him and let Him be Lord of our lives…nope…He wants us to want Him..He wants our true love. When you love someone, it usually shows. Am I right? You want to do little things to show that person..whether it be your husband, wife, friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, parents or child, etc.. You can’t help but “do” nice things..right? Our relationship with Christ is evidence of our initial surrender to Him.
1 John 1 : 5,6 ~ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
If you have already accepted Jesus, WONDERFUL! If you have but have put your growth on hold, now is the time to WALK..move forward..progress. If you are unsure about your salvation, don’t let pride keep you stuck..talk to someone about it and get it straight. Last but definitely not least, if you have never trusted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you are not reading this by accident. Now is the time..but don’t stop there..There’s more to it..lots of growing to do. Trust me though, it is amazing!!! Surrendering to Christ is not a prison sentence…NO..it’s the opposite..it is FREEDOM!!
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UNTIL NEXT TIME! 🙂
Hope For The Broken 