08/08/2024
Living righteously through our prayers and faith every day, and taking care not to reduce our faith to a simple mental exercise. This is the subject of our contemplation this morning. Christ will return suddenly and at an unknown time; and, in the meantime, our lives can be recalled and death come to us at any time... Are we living lives that at a moment's notice we would be comfortable laying at the feet of God? Jesus speaks to us of a morning such as this when He says:
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.”
Luke 21:34 ESV
Thinking rather than acting on our faith is a trap. It is true that God knows our heart but it isn't solely how we feel towards God on which we will be judged... It is how we live our lives each day. We are physical beings and our actions reveal our true hearts. Pastor E.M. Bounds spoke to this subject with these words of warning:
"Christian experience often collapses on the rock of conduct. It is the life that counts. Our praying suffers, like other phases of our religious experience, because of bad living." – E. M. Bounds
We often speak of our desire for those around us to see Jesus when they look at us. This doesn't happen by chance or by wishing it would... It happens when we put into action those things He taught and when we let our behavior resemble His. What all too often happens is that instead of Christ, those around us see hypocrisy and worldliness where we have been proclaiming righteousness but behaving quite differently. This injures not only our image, but the image others have of Christianity and delays, if not destroys, their acceptance of Jesus as Lord of their lives.
The world and the evil that resides there relishes in our failures and uses them against our own faith as well as the faith of others. The most egregious of these failings is, no doubt, in pastors, but our own failure as lay people is also damaging to the kingdom. Are you preaching the gospel in your life?
"In early times, preachers were ordered to preach by their lives or not preach at all. Christians everywhere ought to be reminded to pray by their lives or not pray at all. The best preaching, even in the pulpit, is that which is strengthened by the preacher living a godly life.
The most effective work done by people is accompanied by holiness of life. People preach by their lives, not by their words." E.M. Bounds
I come from simple, working class people, and we often see the world in a less complex way than those who are scholars and those of means. My family would encourage each other with sayings such as "the proof is in the pudding" which, simply put, means that it isn't what you think, but what you do that counts. That saying applied most profoundly to us in our faith, when hardship or ill health came upon us... In such times that was indeed the rock we leaned upon. We knew that Jesus would not fail us; not because of some wish or hope, but because that was the way He lived and died, and His promise was thus seen to be good.
As for the more learned and advantaged? Well I hope that when they read the words "The proof is in the pudding”, and have studied them, that they will come to the same understanding of their meaning. I pray that they are able to strip away the legality and mental exercise to reveal the simple truth this common expression carries for the masses.
The bible isn't just great literature... It is the blueprint for righteous living, and living involves action, not just thought or desire. Each day we should strive to pray and live according to the Word of God as revealed to us through the pages of the Bible, and the life of Jesus. If we do this then it doesn't matter when Jesus returns, or how suddenly death comes upon us; we are ready to stand before God and lay our faith in Christ, and our lives, at His feet... We will be washed in the blood of Christ and have lived righteously to the best of our ability.
This morning I pray that we all find our greatest prayers in the lives we lead, and that the words we speak in our prayer closets have become actions which prove the pudding of our efforts is worthy before God. Amen
Prayer:
Father, thank you for teaching us how to live our lives through the example set by your Son Jesus. Thank you for elevating your Holy Word far beyond a theology, and for making it the essence of how we are to live out our lives. Help us Lord to make the words that are written in scripture come alive in our everyday lives. Help us to stay focused on righteousness so that when death comes, or Jesus returns, that we will be found faithful and prepared for that moment, and your judgement. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God whose actions are true to your Word, and your Word is good for living. Let us be found full of faith in both word and deed when we stand before you, and may our lives reveal our holiness, and a sincere living dedication to all you have taught us. Amen
“…Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Luke 18:8
Rich Forbes