FAITH WITHOUT BEARING SPIRITUAL FRUIT IS A FALSE FAITH
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
One of the most troubling things I find with churches today is the tendency toward joining a church family and going through the motions of attending services without ever really allowing Christ's Spirit to change our lives.
The scriptures tell us through the words of Christ that there will be many who will be disappointed when they come face to face with Him on that day. The disappointment will no doubt come because of all though they may have gone through the motions they never really had a loving relationship with Christ. Jame:14-17 asks the question " what does it profit a man who says he has faith, but still has no works? Does having faith alone save him? What good does it do to say to someone who is without food or clothing " be filled and warm" and yet does nothing to help them to be filled or warm? In these cases faith without works is dead.".
Most people today will tell you that faith is all that you need for Salvation because that is what they have heard all of their lives, and yet God in His message to us warns each of us that unless we possess a solid relationship through Christ and continue to bear fruit of His Spirit we will be considered to be dead branches that will be pruned from the vine, and treated like weeds and scraps that will be tossed into the fire and burnt. It is this reference that Jesus made over and over during His ministry that is concerning to me as I look at today's Christian practices. It seems like we have a confusion between bearing Spiritual fruit through God's Spirit and good works. Spiritual fruit is a bi-product of God doing a work through us, and good works is often used as a phony knockoff that is created by us to make ourselves feel better.
We can tell the difference in the two if we will look closely at the end product. Spiritual fruit will always draw a person closer to God and gain greater faith in the power of God's Spirit while good works many times end up reflecting back on how people view us and our personal status among others around us. Many times good works are aimed at those who are closest to us, and who are the easiest to love for us. God's Spiritual fruit is directed to someone who is in desperate need of God's hand in their life and is someone whom God has directed you to get involved with so that they might be drawn closer to Him. This is a situation where once again we get confused about the spiritual and the physical areas of life. We can see many times when things are done as a good work for someone there may be gratitude but at the same time, it is only a very temporary fix for the person. It may solve an immediate need physically, but it does not translate into a closer walk with God for the person that is helped. Remember me saying in an earlier blog that God is not as concerned about this physical life as He is our spiritual condition? This then is one of the kinds of situations I was referring to. It is easy for us to do good works for friends and family while thinking that we are bearing spiritual fruit for God. Just as Solomon said in the Proverbs; " We soon find out that all that we do becomes some form of vanity without our heart being centered in the Spirit of the living God".
It is so much more for us to learn about the truth of what God intends for us in our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ. We must somehow begin to realize the difference between what we do in this world as men and women to mimic the power of God's goodness and righteousness, and the real power of the Holy Spirit that compels us to reach out in situations that make us uncomfortable. We cannot create spiritual fruit on our own. We cannot be alive in Christ unless His Spirit is flowing and active throughout our daily life. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
One of the most troubling things I find with churches today is the tendency toward joining a church family and going through the motions of attending services without ever really allowing Christ's Spirit to change our lives.
The scriptures tell us through the words of Christ that there will be many who will be disappointed when they come face to face with Him on that day. The disappointment will no doubt come because of all though they may have gone through the motions they never really had a loving relationship with Christ. Jame:14-17 asks the question " what does it profit a man who says he has faith, but still has no works? Does having faith alone save him? What good does it do to say to someone who is without food or clothing " be filled and warm" and yet does nothing to help them to be filled or warm? In these cases faith without works is dead.".
Most people today will tell you that faith is all that you need for Salvation because that is what they have heard all of their lives, and yet God in His message to us warns each of us that unless we possess a solid relationship through Christ and continue to bear fruit of His Spirit we will be considered to be dead branches that will be pruned from the vine, and treated like weeds and scraps that will be tossed into the fire and burnt. It is this reference that Jesus made over and over during His ministry that is concerning to me as I look at today's Christian practices. It seems like we have a confusion between bearing Spiritual fruit through God's Spirit and good works. Spiritual fruit is a bi-product of God doing a work through us, and good works is often used as a phony knockoff that is created by us to make ourselves feel better.
We can tell the difference in the two if we will look closely at the end product. Spiritual fruit will always draw a person closer to God and gain greater faith in the power of God's Spirit while good works many times end up reflecting back on how people view us and our personal status among others around us. Many times good works are aimed at those who are closest to us, and who are the easiest to love for us. God's Spiritual fruit is directed to someone who is in desperate need of God's hand in their life and is someone whom God has directed you to get involved with so that they might be drawn closer to Him. This is a situation where once again we get confused about the spiritual and the physical areas of life. We can see many times when things are done as a good work for someone there may be gratitude but at the same time, it is only a very temporary fix for the person. It may solve an immediate need physically, but it does not translate into a closer walk with God for the person that is helped. Remember me saying in an earlier blog that God is not as concerned about this physical life as He is our spiritual condition? This then is one of the kinds of situations I was referring to. It is easy for us to do good works for friends and family while thinking that we are bearing spiritual fruit for God. Just as Solomon said in the Proverbs; " We soon find out that all that we do becomes some form of vanity without our heart being centered in the Spirit of the living God".
It is so much more for us to learn about the truth of what God intends for us in our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ. We must somehow begin to realize the difference between what we do in this world as men and women to mimic the power of God's goodness and righteousness, and the real power of the Holy Spirit that compels us to reach out in situations that make us uncomfortable. We cannot create spiritual fruit on our own. We cannot be alive in Christ unless His Spirit is flowing and active throughout our daily life. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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