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Gleanings From The Word

Tag: Christian living

  • 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?

  • General Revelation: Why No One Can Claim They Didn’t Know

    General Revelation: Why No One Can Claim They Didn’t Know

    I have a habit I did not set out to form. Most mornings, before the day gets loud, I end up outside for a few minutes. Not for any spiritual reason at first. Coffee. Fresh air. Quiet. But at some point I started noticing that the quiet was not actually quiet. Something out there was already talking.

    A bird. The light changing. The same trees that were bare a few weeks ago full again. And every time, the same thought: this did not happen by accident, and whoever is responsible for it has not stopped paying attention.

    That is not poetry. That is theology. And Scripture has been saying it since the beginning.

    God Made Sure You Would Know

    The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and the expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. Psalm 19:1-2

    Creation has been preaching since Genesis and has not taken a day off. You do not need a seminary degree to hear it. You need to step outside.

    Job said the same thing from a very different place. He was not in a season of quiet morning coffee. He was in ruins. And still he pointed to the birds and the beasts and the earth itself and said, ask them. They know something.

    Who among all these does not know that the hand of Yahweh has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all the flesh of man? Job 12:9-10

    This is not a soft comfort. It is a hard fact. God has made Himself known through what He made, and He did it on purpose.

    I have written about how creation points us to a God who is near and who cares for what He has made. Creation Is a Signpost

    No One Is Without Evidence

    Here is where it gets serious.

    Paul did not write Romans 1 to comfort anyone. He wrote it to close every exit.

    For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20

    Without excuse. Not without opportunity. Not without enough information. Without excuse.

    From the smallest particle yet to be discovered to the edge of an expanding universe no one has mapped, God is being declared. The smaller we look, the larger the claim becomes. The further we search, the less accidental any of it is. To look at creation and conclude there is no God is not a neutral position. Scripture calls it willful. Romans 1:18 calls it suppressing the truth.

    Some Judgment Day, no one will be able to say to the LORD, I didn’t know.

    What You Do With What You Know

    General revelation, the knowledge of God available to every human being through creation, is enough to leave us without excuse. It is not enough to save us. For that, God went further. He sent His Son. He gave us His Word. He sent His Spirit to open what our own effort never could reach.

    But it starts here. Outside. Any morning. With a bird and the light changing and the quiet that is not actually quiet.

    The question creation puts to every person who has ever lived is not whether God exists. That question has already been answered. The question is what you will do with what you already know.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    You might also like: Seeing heaven more clearly every day

    SUMMARY

    God has embedded the knowledge of His existence and care into every corner of creation, from a bird call on a quiet morning to the expanding edge of the universe, leaving every person without excuse. General revelation is enough to condemn but not enough to save, which is why God went further and sent His Son, His Word, and His Spirit.

    TAKEAWAY

    Psalm 19, Job 12, and Romans 1 together establish that creation is not passive scenery but active testimony to God’s existence, power, and care. 

    General revelation is universal and intentional — God made sure no one would be without evidence, and Scripture calls willful blindness exactly what it is. 

    Creation leaves us without excuse but not without hope; for salvation God went further, which makes the gospel not a backup plan but the completion of what creation started.

    The importance of reading the Bible. It’s your primary truth source.