As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. If you keep my commands you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and abide in His love. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.- John 15:9-10,12

“…He is the Father who is full of mercy, the God of all comfort. He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.”–2 Corinthians 1:3-4 

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”– Galatians 6:9-10

 

TO FOLLOW GOD’S LEAD

The comfort God gives us so freely,
Whenever He finds us in need,
Is a template for comforting others;
We can use it to follow God’s lead.

God loved the human family enough
To sacrifice His only Son.
To show the way to salvation
To forgive us for all that we’ve done.
He is always gracious in giving;
His mercy, His comfort, His love.
In return, He asks us for nothing
To repent to His Son is enough.

He created us in His Holy Image,
We inherited His strength and His love.
It is the mightiest tempered sword
Juxtaposed with the gentlest glove.
So, If the creator of the world and its ruler
Can take the time to consider our pain,
It seems that to care for our fellows,
Is something we should not have to feign.

Our God is a God of mercy
Who is and was and will be;
He’s Eternal and holy in nature
And He created us to be free.
Free to choose life or to choose death,
Free to love or be destroyed by hate.
He yearns for us to join with Him,
But it’s a choice we each have to make.

But as long as we’re alive on this planet
God knows that He still has access.
So He chases those who run from Him
Because they need Him nevertheless.
So the next time you see someone in need,
Offering you the opportunity to give,
Remember exactly who made you
And under whose mercy you live.

The comfort God gives us so freely,
Whenever He finds us in need,
Is a template for comforting others;
We can use it to follow God’s lead.
©Linda Troxell 03-08-2017

 

There is a lot of discussions, even arguments, among Christians about what it takes to be saved. One group insists we need only have faith. That if we believe God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to redeem our sins, we will have salvation. The other group argues that we are justified by our good works. Yes, they say, we must believe, by faith, in Jesus the Son of God, but, without good works faith is nothing. Each of these groups will point to different parts of the Bible and different books, chapters, and verses therein, that they say prove their point. Well I am no Bible scholar, and I do not pretend to be a theologian, however, I personally see no argument between the two ideas. I believe that the two are by no means mutually exclusive. I don’t believe this because one scripture says this, or another scripture says that; but because I know that anyone who truly believes, through faith, that God loves us enough to send His Son to die on the Cross, will be compelled to do good works. If they aren’t then they don’t understand the enormity of that gift, not really believe it.

When we believe in the true extent of God’s love it changes us. Slowly, at first, but surely. We become less competitive with our friends, our family, and our neighbors. We begin to understand that we need not compete for God’s love or any love. We begin to see that there is enough to go around. We begin to understand that giving love does not deplete the supply. On the contrary, the more love we give, the more we have to give. Because our love comes directly from God, and love is what God is, we will always have access to more. In John 15:9-10 Jesus tells us that because He keeps His Father’s commands, He abides in the Father’s love. He goes on to say that we can abide in His love if we keep His commands. Then in verse 12, He tells us His command; to love one another as He has loved us. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. If you keep my commands you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and abide in His love. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.- John 15:9-10,12. Now, in this scripture, abide means to remain or live in. Some translations say “will remain in” rather than “abide in”. What is important to understand is that Jesus is telling us that if we keep the command to love others as he has loved us, we will have continuous access to love for we will be living in His love.  

With this anxiety about love resolved, we begin to be more secure in who we are. We start to believe that who we are is good enough, then very good, and finally, we believe who we are is just who God wants us to be. From there, it’s a small step for who God wants us to be becoming who we want to be as well. Once we are secure in God’s love, and then in self-love, we want to share what we have with those around us. We want to reach out to give others the same gift we have received. First with our family, then with our friends, next with acquaintances and finally with the world.

This, then, is when we become compelled to do good works, to reach out to others, to share our gift. But we do not do the good works to prove our faith. No, rather our good works reflect our faith and our faith reflects who we have become. Who we have become is an emissary of our God. The ultimate goal of all Christians is to emulate Jesus regardless of the fact that we cannot reach His perfection. We strive toward the goal, not for ourselves, not even to display our faith, but we do good works, as Jesus did, to glorify our Father in heaven.  

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 that God comforts us in our troubles to show us how to comfort others in theirs. “…He is the Father who is full of mercy, the God of all comfort. He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.”–2 Corinthians 1:3-4.  In Galatians 6:9-10 God tells us to do good for all people whenever we have an opportunity. It further tells us we will be rewarded if we are patient. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”– Galatians 6:9-10. There is no question that God mandates us to do good works, to help our brothers and sisters whenever we have an opportunity to do so. But does our salvation depend on our doing these good works?

The ultimate answer to that question is beyond the purview of this article. But clearly, whether or not we are saved by good works, we are saved to do good works. And I believe the harvest we will reap, referred to in Galatians 6, is not our ultimate salvation; nor is it even the day to day favor of God. No, the reward we receive for doing the good works God mandates us to do, I believe, is the unparalleled joy of abiding in the love of our Lord here, today, in this imperfect world as well as eternally in the afterlife in heaven.  

 

 

Points of Prayer and Pondering

1. Where do you stand on the grace alone / must do good works debate? Do you believe we are saved by grace alone with no mandate to do good works in order to be saved? Or do you believe that in order to have salvation we must obey laws and do good works? Write a bit about how you feel and why.

    

2. Why do you do good works? (I’m assuming that you do) Be honest with yourself. Is it because you believe you have to in order to be saved? Or is it because you want to in order to glorify your Father in heaven? Or is there another reason entirely?

    

3. Can you see a difference in yourself since you accepted Jesus as your savior? As your love for God has grown, has your love of self grown as well? As those things have grown, has your desire to do good works also grown? Write a paragraph or so answering those questions and briefly describe your process. What were you like before, what changed in your life, how did those changes you?