Issue 904 – Sunrise Sunset – November 8, 2022
Looking at this morning’s reader-submitted image, I don’t know whether this is a sunrise or a sunset. Not knowing the geography of the area it was taken, I don’t know if I am looking east or west.
As I pondered that fact, the tune “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on The Roof came to mind. It is one of my favourite movies of all time. I am always impressed by the faith of the (fictional) lead character Tevye the Dairyman (or Tevye the Milkman). He is a flawed man but strives his best to be faithful to the Lord.
There is much about Tevye’s theology I don’t agree with. He is a devout Jew, and I am a Christian. He seems to believe in a form of works based salvation, and I believe in salvation by grace alone. Still, his devotion is powerful.
While I consider salvation by faith alone a hill I would die on, there is something to be said for devotion and works. In fact, devotion and works are powerful fruit resulting from salvation by grace. They are inseparable.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
That gracious gift from God, should bear fruit.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:22-25
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James 2:14-17
Just as the sunrise and sunset bracket the day, faith and works are intimately connected.
Works will not make God love you any more than He does now. He already loves you so much that Jesus died to pay for your sin.
Still, even as Christians, we can be pleasing or not to our heavenly Father. Our salvation in Him is secure, but the richness of our relationship depends, to some degree, on what we put into the equation.
Like our fictional hero, Tevye, we will stumble along the way. We will do the wrong things for the right reason and the right things for the wrong reason. Some of our works will be burned up as straw and stubble, but others will result in crowns in glory.
Our Lord is patient with us and desires our relationship to be intimate. I have no doubt that our efforts to draw us closer bring a smile to His face.
Sunrise and sunset go together. So so faith and works.
May you have saving faith and demonstrate that faith åthrough your works. May you be pleasing in the sight of the Father.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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