Relieved that he would not be harmed or robbed, the priest, in a sign of thanks, removed a cigar from his breast pocket and offered it in gratitude to the thief. The thief declined saying, " No thank you, father. I gave up smoking for lent."
Sometimes our faith is just going through the motions. Like the thief, we follow the 'rules' of our faith, but it does not really change our lives. There is a danger her of becoming like the hypocritical leaders of the Jews who were in a constant battler with Jesus, trying to discredit Him. These leaders preached the faith, but did not put the faith into practice. In the letter to James, this evening, we read:
READING James 2:14, 17, 18b
My brothers, what good is it to profess faith without practicing it? Such faith has no power to save one, has it? So it is with the faith that does nothing in practice. It is thoroughly lifeless. Show me faith without works, and I will show you the faith that underlies my works!
Faith that saves us, faith that heals us, faith that shares the Father's love is faith that is constantly at work building God's kingdom. This work can be done with words, with actions, with prayer.
Lent becomes this time for each of us to consider which faith we live. We ourselves: Do I live the life of faith without practice? If so, now is the time to learn ow to practice our faith. Do. Live a faith without works? Now is the time to implement these works in our lives. Do I live a faith that will not save? Now is the time to save ourselves and others by living the faith we love to its fullest extent and sharing that faith with everyone we encounter.
CAN MEN BE SAVED BECAUSE THEY DID NOT HAVE TIME?
ReplyDeleteOne of primary reasons given by men to prove that water baptism is not essential for salvation is, what if someone believed but died before they were baptized?
Does God give men a pass on meeting the requirements of salvation if they simply do not have time to comply?
1. If a man believes but dies before he can be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of his, will he still be saved? I cannot find that exception in Scripture. (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 1 Peter 3:21)
2. If a man was thinking about believing, but died before he had time to believe, would he still be saved? I cannot find that exception in Scripture. (Mark 16:16, John 8:24, John 3:16, Acts 16:30-34, Romans 10:9)
3. If a man was thinking about repenting , but died before he stopped, murdering, getting drunk, stealing, or before he stopped his homosexual relationship, or before he discontinued his lifestyle of fornication, would that person still be saved? I cannot find that exception in Scripture. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:20-21)
There is no record of men being saved because of their future good intentions.
I DID NOT HAVE TIME TO BE SAVED, BUT GOD WILL SAVED ME ANYWAY IS NOT A SCRIPTURAL CONCEPT.
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