“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” James 1:22 NLT
So, you accepted Jesus as your Savior, what exactly does that mean? Well, you won’t be headed to hell, for the Lord says in His word that all who call upon His name and accept His son will be saved. Plus, you have the added bonus of instant forgiveness through Jesus who died a crucial death to save you from your own sin. And, you will forever be adopted into God’s family where you have many brothers and sisters to help you along your path in life. Now, how should we live to show others this tremendous change of heart we have?
We can read the Bible and say, “There I did my devotion and now it’s me time.” Then we go about our day not having another thought about God and then repeat it again tomorrow and over and over and over again. At some point, God loses our interest or we just get so secure in the knowing we are saved by grace part, we forget to actually DO the things it says to in the Bible. When was the last time we truly loved our neighbor? Or helped a needy person on the street? Have we visited those in prison? Have we given a cup of cold water in His name? There are many things in the Bible we just want to say we believe in and then we do not act.
Once again it is an issue of taking the Bible as a whole and not just fitting those things which appeal to us into our lives. God calls us to a life of obedience and acting out the Bible is a part of that. I know I get so busy with life sometimes I forget for a moment that I am nothing without Him who sustains me in all that I attempt to do in this life. Everything I do should be to glorify God, even my job or grocery shopping. I should always be on the look out for opportunities to share God with others around me. Now I am not saying pushy evangelism, just a hug or a compliment or simply doing something out of your norm for someone else is acting within God’s word. Isn’t that what we are called to do, be abnormal in this world, different from the rest?
God is not a difficult task master, He is merely trying to teach us to love. God is love and He creates it through us. He takes great pleasure in seeing His children treat each other with love and respect. I urge us all to be the saved Christian and begin to take ownership in our calling. We are called to be fishers of men, are we fishing? Did we even stop to get the pole? Read the Word daily and let it renew your mind, let God work through you to show His love. Be obedient with the tasks God assigns you. Let the flesh go and live life in the spirit for in the end this will be all that matters, nothing of this world will go with you. We are given one short life in which to show others the Jesus in us, are you up to the challenge?
