Saturday, June 15, 2013
Jesus died on the cross to save us. We accept salvation by believing and letting the Holy Spirit dwell within us. Jesus did all the work for us, all we do is accept the gift. So where do good works come in? Obviously we as the Body of Christ are supposed to spread the Good News with our words and actions, but what is the correct motive? We are not saved by good works but faith without works is dead. So my question is this: Do we do good works as a response of thankfulness to God's gift to us? Or do we do good works because we think we need to do them in order to be a real Christian? This Bible study is almost scaring people in to volunteering. I'm sure there are many other options as to why people volunteer and what not, but I like to think we should serve out of thankfulness to what God has blessed us with. Nothing we do will earn us salvation. So then what about the Christians that believe in Jesus but were never active about it? Will Jesus really say "Away from me, I never knew you"? We are saved by faith right? I'm not sure what the right answer is so any wise words would be cool to hear.
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the truth is, he loves us no matter what we do. if we steal and lie and break every commandment, he loves us through that. the spirit will never leave us; we are sealed with it.
ReplyDeleteso when it comes to good works, those will not make christ love us any more or any less than he already does. the amount of love here is RIDICULOUS.
think about a man with no limbs. he can't do many good physical works, now, can he? but if the spirit lives in him, then he is perfect. he doesn't need to do anything to get any more loved or righteous or holy. it is the holy spirit inside of him that makes him loved and righteous and holy.
for us -- the "good work" we should be doing is walking by faith and trusting god. good things flow from that, but that is what we do when we are in christ. if we truly allow him to flood our hearts and direct our paths, then we will bear much fruit: patience, kindness, etc. these are technically "good works" but they aren't things we get on our own accord. they are gifts and they are how we live in the freedom of christ.
so to the person who believes in jesus but never acts on it -- if he really does believe and has accepted the salvation of christ, then it is his human flesh that stops him from "acting" on it. and that is perfectly natural and perfectly okay. god loves that person more than words can say.
i think it all comes down to love, and us understanding that his loves knows no bounds and has no restrictions. it isn't the sort of conditional love that we experience here on earth -- it is a love that never stops, no matter WHAT we do. i could commit every sin in the book, and i have confidence that god would 1) never stop loving me 2) never leave me.