https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/22/faith-in-action-2
One of the basic facets of our faith in Christ is this teaching in James 2, in particular, verse 26 that faith without works is dead. If we have faith but no works, it is quite useless. But if we have works but not faith, it is also useless because without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:16).
We all know that salvation is a gift from God. We are called by God to be His children. Although many are called, few are chosen (Matthew 22 :14). In the end, not everyone responds to the call. But fundamentally, we cannot work for our salvation. We are saved by the grace of God. We are saved because Jesus died for our sins as the final sacrifice to atone for the sins of mankind, once and for all to break through the spiritual veil that separated man from the Father caused by the original sin of Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden. Salvation is thus never a question of how hard we had worked in terms of our good deeds to compensate for our sins because we are stained by the original sin of Adam. Not a question of a scale as good deeds cannot outweigh the original sin without the atoning blood of Christ.
Having said that, once we have faith and believed in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and have reconciled with God, we then need to demonstrate our faith by our good works. If we are saved and continue to live in sin and do evil, are we then representative of God’s love and grace for our lives? We are saved by His grace and by the sacrificial blood of Christ but we continue to sin and do evil? We then become the ungrateful servant in the Parable of the Ungrateful Servant as taught by Jesus.
As James so clearly and rightfully pointed out, like the body without spirit is dead, faith without works is dead. If we are saved and thus we have Christ in us, we cannot avoid doing good. Did Abraham not demonstrate his faith by obeying God to sacrifice Isaac? Did Rahab not risk her life by helping the spies? Did Jesus not die for our sins on the cross? Our faith in Jesus has to be followed by our good works in Christ. That is the natural output, the most natural path after gaining salvation as the road to salvation will be and is paved with our good works here on earth which will translate spiritually to our treasures in heaven. We can say figuratively that our road to heaven is paved with gold, the gold of our good works for Christ in recognition and remembrance of His love and God’s grace in sending His Son to die for our sins that we will not perish but have life eternal!
Ronnie's Thoughts 