Verse of the Day ~ February 23, 2012

First off, I have a small prayer request. Last night we got a call that my Great Grandpa died. He'd been in the hospital for a little over 2 weeks I think. He was doing really bad. They think he had a heart attack and he died right after that. If you wouldn't mind could you just pray for my Great Grandma, my Grandma, and my Grandpa. They all are going to have to adjust to some new things and possibly new living arrangements. Thanks! Now for the verse of the day!

James 2:20,22,24,26 ~ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfet? You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. For as the body without that spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

So, yesterday we talked about the fact that salvation is only obtainable through Christ. That is not something we can earn. It is a gift from God. Today, as you can see in those verses, we learn (although I'm pretty sure most of you already know that;)) that faith is no good unless we have the works to go along with it. It's dead. What would our faith be if we didn't read the Bible? didn't go to church? didn't help minister? didn't pray? All of those things are 'works' and they are all neccessary for us to grow in the Lord. If we didn't do any of those things our faith would be dead. We wouldn't know anything about God. The One who saved us. So, just cause your saved doesn't mean you have a free ride. You have been saved from your sins but that doesn't mean that you can go live how you want. You must have works to support your faith. Does that make sense? Think about it this way: Think about a table. There are two main parts to a table, the top and the legs. Are those parts very useful by themselves? No, not really. They're 'dead'. But, together they make a very useful table. Think about your works as the table legs. Think about your faith as the table top. Separate they're aren't very useful, but together they are very efficient, very effective. Works can't save you but they are required of you.