"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created,
and You will renew the face of the earth.
Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit,
You have taught the hearts of Your faithful.
In the same Spirit, help us to relish
what is right and always rejoice in Your consolation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thundering Faith
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
--James 2: 20
It is late summer. The days are long and hot and late afternoon usually brings a thunderstorm to cool down the parched earth. We see the lightning and seconds later we hear the thunder. Nature portrays an illustration for us of the relationship between faith and works. Without lightning, there would be thunder--the one is the cause of the other. Good works always accompany saving faith--one causes the other. We must always remember the clear truth as Ephesians 2: 8-9 says.."For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." But sometimes we as Christians might ignore the verse that follows..."For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (v 10) Our saving faith is like the the lightning. The thunder represents the "sound" of faith and will follow every genuine conversion. One without the other is not the real thing. Genuine faith is always evident by what follows--a life of good works.
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