Follow-Up To "Christ Plus Nothing" -- The Other Side Of The Coin

Hey, Y'all,

Today's RST is a follow-up to the last one and can be viewed as the other side of the same coin. I had a great e-mail conversation with our brother Tom B. earlier--and interestingly it was essentially a continuation of the discussion we had in men's group on Tuesday night (funny coincidence, huh...and yeah, and these are actually Random Spiritual Thoughts too :-)

So here's what we were talking about: it is a fact that real spirituality is truly "graduate-level" stuff, no simplistic cliched answers will satisfy real searching, and real searching--reading and thinking and praying (and living life in general)--seem to bring on more "speedbumps" and things to wrestle with (or temporarily step over) in the belief that God will clear things up when--and if--He wants me to understand whatever it was...all of which is a good thing! God is God, so there ought to be things I can't comprehend right away (or ever)--hence, well, faith :-)

Tom points out that Paul does say in Ephesians 2:8 that "we are saved by grace through faith" because salvation is a gift--which is what the last RST was trying to convey: (1) there is nothing you can do to make yourself more worthy of God's love and forgiveness--which are gifts from a Loved One, and (2) you're only kidding yourself when you try to earn salvation (Isaiah very eloquently says that even "our righteous acts are like filthy rags")--again, it's a true gift, by definition not something you deserve or earn.

However, Tom also reminds us, "James clearly states 'faith without works is dead.' Don't let your readers fall into the trap of not making Jesus the Lord of your life. When He is Lord, then you want to be like Him, which means you will have Christ-like works, but they are spawned from love, not obligation. How do we know this? Because Jesus Himself said that 'by their fruits you will recognize them' (Matthew 7:20). There is a huge difference, James states it so well that there is no doubt in my mind." [Great passage--check it out--James 2:14-26].

Thanks Tom, that's the good stuff :-) and I agree wholeheartedly that relating to Him as Savior and submitting to Him as Lord are both crucial components of "The Walk." I also agree that often it seems the 'salvation' aspect of the relationship is emphasized without talking about how that moment must become a long-term transformational experience in order for it to really, truly take root and thrive.

"You can't stay where you are and walk with God," is a quote that has always rung true for me, and it reminds me of another one: "God meets us where we are, but He loves us too much to leave us there." But I have to thank Tom S. for the one that brings it home: "It's by faith alone, but true faith is never alone."

So there it is: salvation is by grace, through faith, which without good Godly works is obviously dead--our "fruits" demonstrate irrefutably what spirit is on the throne of our hearts and producing those visible actions (and Galatians 5 doesn't mince words in that regard--check it out, it's a great read, and clears it all up if you're a little fuzzy on it).

You've each been prayed for today...