What profit is it to know the Truth, but to be unmoved?  It is better that one never knew, than to hear, and be unchanged.  On the one hand, a person is rejecting what they do not know through their sin.  How much more then is the insult of the rejection for the person who knows God?

My exhortation for today is a call to move beyond being mere hearers of the Word, and to become doers.  Here is what you see all throughout the New Testament:  Faith alone saves you (Ephesians 2:8-9), and authentic faith is always accompanied by works that bear witness to what you believe (James 2).  This is why Jesus asks people why they call Him Lord and do not do what He says. (Luke 6:46)  If they truly believed He was Lord, they would.  That was true for the people following Christ during His earthly ministry, and it is true for those who claim to be following Him today.

Matthew 21:28-32 – “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.  And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?”

John 6:27-29 – “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doingthe works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Matthew 28:18 – “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What have you purposed yourself to do?  Are you driven by work, the accumulation of things, the pursuit of happiness in relationships?  These things will all pass away, and none of them will profit you eternally.  Instead, labor for those things that will bear fruit into eternity.  Pursue the Lord, and labor to be an effective minister of reconciliation.  Share the gospel.  Love the Word of God and apply it to yourself and others.  Seek not simply to make converts or gather “church buddies”, but make disciples of Christ.

When you were of the world, you sought after the things of the world, but now you are a new creation in Christ.  Those things no longer own you as they once did, but you have found a new treasure in Christ.  Therefore, let your life give rise to praise to the One who is in you by faith, Jesus Christ.  As a new creation, in Him, plow the earth of others’ hearts, that God might grant repentance and faith to some.  Make your and my joy complete, to know the surpassing worth of Christ through losing our lives to gain Him.

Grace and Peace,
Adam