Tuesday, November 8, 2011

not determined but demonstrated…

james here in chapter 2 also talks about rahab.  the story is in joshua 2.  it’s the story of how a prostitute helped a couple of spies when they were coming into jericho.  rahab ends up in the family life of JESUS.  she risks her life to save a spy.

our faith is not determined by what we do, it is demonstrated by what we do.

about 35 years ago there was a famous tightrope walker named george blondin who, for a publicity stunt, decided he would walk across niagara falls on a tightrope.   on the appointed day they stretched a tightrope from one side of niagara falls to the other. 

he got there and there were crowds lining both the canadian and american side.  thousands of people showed up to see this unbelievable feat.  blondin walked up to the edge of the tightrope, put one foot on the tightrope and put another foot out to walk across – inch by inch, step by step.

he got out in the middle and everybody knew that if he’d make one mistake in balance he’d fall off the rope and into the falls and obviously be killed.  blondin got to the other side and the crowd went wild, shouting and cheering.  blondin said, “i’m going to do it again.”  he got to the other side and the crowds went crazy.

blondin said, “i’m going to do it again but this time i’m going to bush a wheel barrow full of dirt.”  he pushes the wheel barrow across.  he got to the other side.  he did this nine or ten times.

on the tenth time, he pushes the wheel barrow right in front of a tourist who said, “i believe you could do that all day.”  blondin them dumped out the dirt and said, “ok, then you get into the wheel barrow.”

in a real sense that’s what GOD is saying to you.  talk is cheap.  put your money where your mouth is.  “i believe in JESUS.”  then prove it.  our faith is demonstrated by our actions.  actions speak louder than words.  our behavior shows what we really believe.

2 corinthians 13.5 (niv), examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.  test.  check it out.  see if you’re really a believer or not.

just a thought from the front porch… 

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