Thursday 28 March 2019

Are You?

Are you?
James the half brother of Jesus said,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  
If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” James 2:14-20.
The American evangelist Tony Campolo wrote,
“These issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.” Tony Campolo
Sadly I think the church especially here in North America where I live has fallen short of what God wants it to do. Many Christians today mix their politics and their religion. Which is not a good combination.
Someone once said,
“Mixing politics and religion is like mixing gasoline and water. The water in undrinkable, the gasoline unusable and the whole mixture explosive.”
I couldn’t agree more. Christians while they should vote and even participate in politics should never mix their politics with their faith.
Jesus and his disciples never voted in an election. They never run for political office. They never spoke against anyone outside of their faith.
Additionally they lived in a multicultural society that had many things within it they would have found morally abhorrent. Yet within a century of Christ’s death the gospel message had reached the know world.
Billy Graham the American evangelist said,
“The men who followed Him (Christ), were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same.” Billy Graham.
This is the kind of followers Christ needs today. Men and women who’s hearts are right before God. Men and women who proclaim the gospel message in as pure a form as is humanly possible.
Are you one of those people?
Please think about it. 

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