A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (November 20, 2017)
But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience]. (James 1:25, Amplified)
Prior to my full-time ministry position I was the Director of Field Operations for a large government agency. I had over 3000 employees that I was responsible for. Most of those employees were members of various unions and as such each employee had a job description that varied according to their position. The unions looked very unfavorably on using employees to do tasks outside their job descriptions and would often file grievances on that type matter.
In a way, the Bible is like a job description for Christians. It shows us what we should be doing. Some of these assignments are fun, exciting, and easy, and some are not so fun, exciting, and easy. For example, getting saved, healed, delivered, and set free is exciting. Praising and worshipping God is fantastic. Partaking of the gifts of the Spirit is powerful. Experiencing prosperity is a whole lot more fun than being broke.
However, there is another side to this same coin. There are some things in this job description that are not so fun, exciting, and easy. These are the very things that tend to trip us up. For example, we are not to judge people. We are to forgive people. We are to be cheerful givers. We are to pray for all those in authority. These are just a few examples where we tend to justify our non-actions with thoughts like: God, you don’t know what they did to me; God, you don’t know who they elected; God, that person is just mean; God, you don’t understand how much money I owe; and on and on the justifications and excuses go.
Sometimes I look at the Church today and I think we have gone too far with the teachings on grace compared to obedience. Do we think that all the great benefits and blessings from God are just going to automatically appear, even when we don’t do what He has told us to do? Have we forgotten that most all of these benefits can be blocked by our
disobedience?
Are we deceiving ourselves? But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22) There is a linkage between benefits and actions. We are told not to judge so that we will not be judged. We are told to give so we can be given to. We are told to forgive so God can forgive us. We are told to pray for those in authority so they can do their job and we can have peace. We are also cautioned to understand that God promotes and He is the one that puts people in authority. So, if you mock those in authority you are actually mocking God and that’s not good.
Do you see how our actions are directly linked to the benefits? I agree that we are saved by grace and not by works. However, after we are saved we have a job description to follow and if we don’t follow that job description we have the ability to block some of the very blessings that God so desperately wants to give us. We do not get to pick and choose the parts of this job description we are going to obey and which parts we are not going to obey and still expect to be blessed. It just doesn’t work like that!
And Samuel said, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices [to cover sinfulness] as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
(Matthew 7:24-25)
