Honourably and Faithfully

Honourably and Faithfully 

"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

Faith without works is dead states James. 

Is your faith dead?

Now I know the Talmud is a Jewish book and not Christian. It however has good points to make. Here is one I can see happening. It reads,

"When a man appears before the Throne of Judgment, the first question he is asked is not, "Have you believed in God?"  Or "Have you prayed and observed the ritual?  "He is asked: "have you dealt honourably and faithfully in all your dealings with your fellow men?" The Talmud.

Jesus said,

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12.

If you came upon hard times would you not want help? As Christians we are called to love even our enemies. So it’s not a stretch by any means to believe that when we stand before God He would say,

 "have you dealt honourably and faithfully in all your dealings with your fellow men?" 

So have you dealt honourably and faithfully with your fellow man?

Please think about it.

Peace

Peace

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD'S temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 
Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 
Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.” 
                                  Micah 4:1-4.

I firmly believe that one day all mankind will live in peace with one another. But man cannot do it alone.
Man has shown how selfish and self centred he is throughout history. One statistic I read stated that there has been but a few days of true peace in all the history of mankind. Through the centuries man has become more and more violent. Another statistic states the twentieth century seen more deaths due to violence and war than all others combined and the twenty-first century seems to be continuing to add to the deaths.
Mankind it seems cannot live at peace. Man doesn’t seem to see all men as brothers with rights given to them by God. The right of freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom to enjoy life. To as the Americans say, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It seems there is always some despot out there trying to impose their will on people. Love seems to be slipping away in our global society.
Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society.  Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.
                   Abba Hillel Silver.
It seems as our society becomes more secular it is becoming more violent.
Around the world terrorist groups like ISIS, rather than seeing the one true God, they are fashioning a god after their violent twisted beliefs.
Mankind is on a slippery slope that is leading to a lake of fire and brimstone and he cannot stop the slide himself.
Man needs to turn to God.
God sent Jesus into this world to show how much He loved mankind and today there are an estimated 2.2 billion Christians. Jesus has been called the Prince of Peace. Not only that most religious leaders in the world recognize Jesus as at the very least a great moral teacher.
Sadly however the majority of the world wants nothing to do Jesus and his teachings They wish to blunder on doing their own thing and getting nowhere.
Eventually however as the Prophet Micah said,
“In the last days the mountain of the LORD'S temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 
Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 
Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.” 
                                  Micah 4:1-4.
It will indeed be a momentous day in history. I know many reading this will not believe it. But it’s what I believe as a Christian.
The Lord God of Jacob will one day make himself known to modern man in the flesh and he will bring peace to all mankind.
Something mankind will never do himself.
Think about it.

Foolishness or Truth

Foolishness or Truth
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” 
                        1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Paul writing to the Corinthians in the above passage hits the nail on the head. If you are not a Christian the message of a suffering saviour is foolishness.
To those who deem themselves wise to have one man die for the sins of all men is at first glance a convoluted way of thinking.
For God himself in the form of Jesus Christ to come to the earth he crated and enter into society as a low born person does not make sense at all to non-Christians.
Yet Christians realize this was the only way it could happen.
Think about it, religions around the world agree that God will one day judge the world. Will one day judge each person individually But how could he judge the world fairly if he didn’t understand what it was to be a man?
The reason earthly judges can judge is that they know the law and they understand what it is to be human with all the temptations that lie around us.
For us to stand before an almighty, all knowing omnipresent God who has never experienced what it is to be human and be judged would be simply wrong from a moral point of view.
We could even make the statement to God that he didn’t understand what it was to be human and we’d be right in saying it.
The thing is with Jesus coming to this earth God can say I understand. He can say I understand what it’s like to as an infant to run for my life to Egypt to avoid being killed. He can say I understand what it’s like to feel the sun on my face. To stand in the rain to be loved.
At the same time he can say I understand what it’s like to be flogged and put to death for a crime he didn’t commit.
Jesus calls all mankind to himself saying,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                                             Matthew 11:28-30
Christians believe that we cannot live a life good enough to be judged fit to enter heaven. That’s why Christ died for us.
The apostle Paul writing to the Romans saying,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 
Romans 5:8
God can also say Jesus made things clear saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 
                                                                                              John 3:16-18
That Jesus also said,
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 
John 14:6.
So ultimately the big question is.
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That he came to this earth to offer the free gift of salvation to all who would believe in him?
Think about it.