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Gleanings From The Word

Category: Ephesians

  • Infrared Light and Faith

    Campfire - pondering the unseen

    I sat out by the campfire, pondering light and life. There was so much more going on in the fire than I could see. I could see the flames because they emit visible light. I could see, taste and smell smoke because it hung in the air. I could feel the warmth from the flames.

    I couldn’t see the wood gases that were actually burning. I couldn’t see the wood turning into charcoal. I couldn’t see the infrared (IR) energy being emitted because it lies outside the visible spectrum. If I had a thermal camera, I might have seen the IR waves.

    IR light isn’t visible to us, but it surrounds us. Everything above absolute zero emits some level of infrared radiation. Even though we can’t see it, it’s reflected off trees and other surfaces and impacts us. A little can warm us and increase blood flow. It can be used in some forms of physiotherapy. Too much IR can cause burns, heat rash and even eye damage.

    Just as IR has an impact even though we cannot see it, God is working in ways invisible to us. His presence may be hidden, but He still provides for us, reaches out to us and is working in our lives.

    There is nothing anywhere in the created universe that does not owe its beginning and continued existence to God’s power and presence. If He withdrew His presence for even a split second, everything would collapse and disappear.

    Fortunately, we don’t have to physically see Him for Him to work in our lives. We have the Scriptures and their testimony. We have the Holy Spirit (if we are believers), or He calls us (if we are non-believers).

    For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— 2 Corinthians 5:1-7

    What a marvelous gift, to be given the faith to walk even when we cannot see the way of the hands that guide us.

    Maybe you’ve never considered faith as a gift, but Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear. We are saved and guided by faith, and all of that is a love gift from our Heavenly Father.

    Praise His holy and generous name.

    Be blessed,

    Kevin

    Check on this post on “False teachers“

    SUMMARY

    I sat by a campfire and realized how much was happening that I couldn’t see: burning gases, wood turning to charcoal, infrared energy radiating outward. It struck me that God works the same way, present and active even when His hands are hidden from our sight.

    TAKEAWAY

    Everything above absolute zero emits infrared radiation, invisible yet powerfully real in its effects 

    God’s presence sustains all creation even when it isn’t visible to us 

    2 Corinthians 5:1-7 and Ephesians 2:8-9 remind us that faith, not sight, is how we’re meant to walk

    The importance of Reading God’s Word

    God promises us His Holy Spirit

  • Faith and Works: Resting in the Balance God Designed 

    Border collies don't understand faith or rest - but they sure work hard

    There is a weird tension in Christianity between faith and works. The bible is abundantly clear that we are saved by faith

    For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10

    At the same time, there is clearly a tie between grace and works.

    What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. James 2:14-16

    We find ourselves dithering like an anxious border collie with no sheep to guard. We settle into grace for a moment, but never quite relax. We fall into works mode for a time in the vain hope that it will please God more somehow, if we earn our salvation. We know something should be happening; we were designed to work, but we’re not sure how.

    We go back and forth, seldom settling into a healthy balance.

    Our works are done out of faith, not to give us faith. Our self-motivated works are bound to fail and are, in fact, sin. This text from Paul to the church in Rome is in the context of eating certain foods, but it illustrates a principle.

    The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. Romans 14:22-23

    The first step is to prioritize our relationship with Jesus. We seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). 

    We remember to rest and make time for the Sabbath. (Exodus 20:8-10).

    Consider that all we do is working for the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24).

    Our good works flow out of our relationship with the Lord; they don’t cause it. He saved us without works on our part, and He holds us in relationship.

    Prioritize that relationship, let the rest flow naturally. Sometimes we need to reset, but that always comes by time with Him.

    Rest comfortably in the Lord, my dear friends.

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    If salvation is by faith, “Why good works?”

    SUMMARY


    The tension between faith and works often leaves Christians oscillating between striving and resting, never fully settling in either. The key is to prioritize our relationship with Jesus — good works flow naturally out of that relationship, not the other way around.

    TAKEAWAYS

    We are saved by grace through faith alone, yet genuine faith produces good works

    Self-motivated works done apart from faith are sin; works must flow from our walk with Christ

    The solution is to seek first His kingdom, rest in Him, and let the works follow naturally

    Right Belief and Right Living are both important

    Who (or what) is the rock upon which we stand?