Faith and Works

The real journey of faith requires that our choices, our actions, and everything else in our lives be surrendered to Gods will rather than our own. For the Christian, it is a lifelong process. Belief - that is, faith - is just the beginning. Yes, we must believe that Christ lives us, but Christ also calls us to demonstrate His love to others through the good things that we do, what the Bible calls "works." Faith without works is no faith at all. But authentic faith, rooted in the heart of God, is expressed in deeds done to ease the pain of others; it is imbued with personal sacrifice, and it comes with a cost. Jesus understood that not everyone who called Him "Lord" would truly surrender their lives in sacrificial service, and He reserved some of His strongest words for those who professed to be His followers but whose lives showed no evidence of their faith. Surely this is one of the hardest things ever said by Jesus to those who claimed to follow Him. "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?"...

He could not have been any more direct. Jesus was telling not only His hearers but all who would someday read His words that if we dare to call Him Lord, then He expects us to do what He says. In other words, once we believe that Jesus is Lord, then our lives must change; we must do as He commanded.

The Hole In Our Gospel, Richard Stearns