Works without Faith is Dead

Check out the Gospel of John 14:12.

In the second part of that verse Jesus teaches us, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me shall also do the works that I do. And greater things than these shall he do, for I go to the Father".

I have spent the a good portion of my "free" time over the last few days serving our church.  My reasons for helping can be summarized briefly by sharing that I was responding to the love of God in my life.  His love for me that is.

Of all that I was asked to participate and help in, I can truthfully say that events would have worked out fine whether or not I was present.  In fact, I may have even been inclined to question why anyone would bother to invite my assistance when others clearly had it under control.

However, what kept me focused was the reality that I was present to serve The Lord through my brothers and sisters.  My interpretation of the circumstance was (and continues to be) irrelevant.

Knowing inside that I was present only as a witness to His love for us comforted me as only He can!

Towards the end of the endeavors, I was left with cleaning up after others.  I was fine with taking care of what I been called to do, but getting left with this mess to straighten up was not how this tired man envisioned the day ending.  So, in my state of self preservation and righteousness, I reached out to those whom had failed to close the loop on their commitments and lightly admonished them for the obvious oversights. I really felt as though I was being taken advantage of, so I pushed them to take care of the mess.

AND THEN I PRAYED!

Perhaps not soon enough, and yet with perfect timing and realization of the moment to grow.

 I just shared I was present to offer help in response to the love of God.
When the response was my choice, it was easy to go there.
The situation I was placed in was not only not my choice, it also made no sense to me how others could leave things as they did.
So now how do I respond?

Christ has already forgiven them and He knows the truth.  I have not a clue as to why things were as they were, so who am I to not do likewise?

Miraculously, these realizations came and I took care of what was "ailing me".
I pray for forgiveness for the moments of weakness that struck.

Brothers and sisters, I also pray that we never limit our acceptance of His love by our understanding of what is happening around us.  For He completely loves us even as we deny or try to interpret the meaning of it all.

We cannot merit or earn anything that He has to offer.

What we CAN do is everything in our power to build the relationship with him.

To know Him is to follow in His ways.

For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action.