Faith and Works?

I had a big question about faith and works, and recently read a book that made sense to me about how it all fits together. It's strange, though. When explaining the roles of faith and works, I explained it in almost the same way the book talked about it, but some reason things clicked when I read the book, and though it's not like it was necessarily a new idea all together, things just seemed to make more sense in a new way. I've always found that strange, and I'm not sure why that happens.

I had 2 separate questions about faith and works. The first one was, we're saved by faith, so then why does it seem like most of the Bible seems to be about works, what we ought to do here or there. And the second question I had was, for this whole salvation thing, what part am I meant to do, and what part does God do? It seemed to me that God had given me some responsibility--to not just laze around until God did everything for me, but rather to work hard at becoming more "Christian." So what part is waiting for God to do stuff in me, and what part is my responsibility to do stuff?

Well, the book mentioned stuff about, when we believe in Jesus, we have a regenerated spirit. Kind of like we're a new creation, and that's another part where grace comes in. First, faith is itself a gift of God (Ephesians 2), so God does that. But believing in Jesus means that we are a new creation, that it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2). And so, when we do good works and stuff, it's not out of ourselves, but rather out of Christ that we do stuff like good works. And when we grow, it's not that our old self is changing, but rather that Christ is increasing, and we are decreasing. And so ultimately, that means that all glory belongs to God. God gives us faith to believe in Him, and God is the one who makes us able to become righteous, and that's kind of what He means by salvation. Salvation is not just the place we go after we die because of what we believe, but it's the whole being free from sin and its fruitlessness, it's becoming more like Christ and knowing God more and the joy that provides.

So anyway, about that question about what part we do and what part God does.

^{1 Corinthians 15}

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

I guess I still don't have a really straight answer on all of that, but it seems like God does everything, but we still have to work a lot at it, but it's not really we who are working, but God's grace that works in us.

Philippians 2

¹²So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

¹³for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

See, the question I had about what work I do was kind of asked out of pride. I can't control what God gives me--that's His decision--but if there were a part that I could control, then I wanted to try to work harder at it than anyone else, so that I could be better. But the question was also asked out of laziness. If God controlled everything, then that means I wasn't responsible for anything. But it's weird how God can nullify both sides at the same time. We're responsible for working hard and working diligently. Seeking to find God, pressing on to know Him, obeying His commands, but at the same time, we can't boast about something like this because it's not that I'm doing stuff, but rather God's grace that has given me the heart to do this, and to do them with joy.

1 John 5

³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

FREE BOOKS. GET THEM

Hey everyone,

You're in for a treat this time!

Ruth was the one who found this/shared this awesome website with me, but anyway, it's a website that sells audio of Christian books. Every month they have a free download of a Christian book, but the book is only free this one time EVER. This month (July! hurry!) they're giving away a free download of The Pursuit of God by Tozer (I think it may have been his best-selling book!)

https://christianaudio.com/free

I downloaded it. It doesn't seem dangerous or like a conspiracy (I had my suspicions)

God is Good

Romans 8

²⁸And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

I used to use this verse to mean that I got what I wanted. That since God works all things together for my good (if I love God), then that means only good things will happen to me, right?

And sometimes, it's stuff that seems pretty reasonable. There are times when you ask for healing, times when you plead for a friend who's turned his back on God, times when you wish that you or the people around you didn't have to suffer so much. I don't want pain, and it hurts me to see the difficult situations of those around me as well. And as much as I pray for God to take away the sorrow, what I want the most is for everyone to understand Romans 8:28.

There are moments when things seem dark and you wonder why God isn't working, and then something happens and you see that everything turned out well in the end. I used to have that, and then say, ah-ha! God does indeed work everything out for good. But I think that I reversed the order.

What this verse means to me now (though I know I don't fully hold onto it as I should) is that God works all things for the good of those who love Him. What it means to me now is that when things are dark, and I don't know what good can come out of what's going on right now. When God doesn't seem to answer my prayers, or says no to something that means so much to me, and seems so reasonable to me--this verse tells me that God is good, and I have to trust that beyond all the things that are happening now.

I don't see the big picture, and I may never, ever understand what God's big plan is, or how He works things out for good, but even though I don't, the most important thing is to trust that God is good, that God loves me, and that God allowed this to happen for a purpose.

The verse isn't something that just corresponds with our experiences--it's something that's supposed to define our experiences. When we don't understand and are left in the dark, let's hold onto this verse, though honestly it's so tough. All we can do is pray to the Lord and pray that He would give us the faith to believe in His goodness.

Romans 8

³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

³²He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

...

³⁴who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

...

³⁷But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Rise of the Juniors

It's a scary thought to think that soon we're going to be the upperclassmen. Where has the time gone! I remember first coming to CBS, going over to Caleb and Richard's to play some Halo before I knew the people here. It's so funny to think about the way I viewed the junior class back in the day.

They seemed so distant--like older (at least to me) and I thought it would take a while for me to be like that. And here we are...we're about to become juniors, and it's a scary thought. Soon freshmen are going to be coming in, and who knows what they're going to expect. I know that I thought the upperclassmen knew so much. I expected them to be done struggling with a lot of issues, to have things figured out. When I got to know them more my sophomore year, it was funny to see a lot of the same struggles that I go through, though a lot of growth as well. I realized that we weren't so different in the end, just trying to love God more and trust in Him past our fears.

I guess there are a lot of fears for this coming year that I have because I know there are a lot of sins that I wish I had stopped struggling with by now. There's a lot of love lacking in my heart. And I wish I could be that great older brother with a lot of answers to life's questions.

In some ways, to be sure, I think we've all grown in God. We've experienced a few more things and can share wisdom on some stuff that we've gone through with the freshmen and the sophomores, but it's still a daunting task because we are all still so weak. And I guess that's the way it should be. We don't stop struggling with sin, we don't have the perfect prayer life, or the perfect trust in God, and it's probably still hard for us to know what God wants us to do. We probably don't change that much in 2 years. But the way that I have changed, and possibly you too, is actually pretty simple. It kind of seems small when I think about it now. I guess I kind of imagined that by now I would have like matured/grown to the point where I could fight off lions or something (something like that).
But instead, looking back, I think all that I can think of right now is that I've learned that God is greater, more powerful, good-er, and needs to be more important than I knew before. God's been slowly destroying a few idols in my heart that I didn't really think were all that big of a deal. And in their place, God has put more of Himself. I've learned what a joy it is to get to love and know God, and I've learned how great it is that God has placed us all in a body together.


After one felly dinner, I came to my conclusion that ultimately what CBS is meant to teach us is how good God's love is. To be sure, we as brothers and sisters fail each other, but there are times when you can really feel the love (I think), and it comes clearest to me during the felly dinner times. The love we have for each other is just a small portion of how good and how big God's love is for each one of us, and God is teaching us about His love in our fellowship, so that when we all leave from here we can help other fellowships to experience how great a blessing God has given us through the body-life. That we can show God's love to other people, and show them that it's more than just being in the same building together on a day or two or three, but being connected in our lives to one another. That's why I think that I'll miss everyone here, and the times we had at CBS (hopefully we stay in touch though!), but I also think, the best part of CBS is God's love, and we can take that wherever we go.

Poem by Annie J. Flint as heard on a clip of Ravi Zacharias on Ruth's blog

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.