Faith And Work
Monday in the Third Week of Easter
My dear encountered couples:
The people wanted to do the work of God. Or at least that is what they claimed they wanted to do. Jesus told them the work of God is “to have faith in the one whom he sent.” If we read on further in the gospel we will find that they weren’t willing to do that. When Jesus tells them they must eat his flesh and drink his blood they walked away. It is easy to say we believe in Jesus, but when some really hard test to our faith comes along, we might find there are limits to what we are willing to believe.
Do you believe that no matter what happens in your life God is in full control, he is permitting what is happening, he will not only get you through it but will make it work out for your good? If you answer, “Yes,” let me follow up with another question. Do you ever complain? If “Yes,” then what happened to that faith you said you had?
We all complain, don’t we? Though our faith deep down tells us that God will let nothing happen to us that is not for our best, when things do happen we find that our faith when practically applied to this particular happening is not as strong as we had thought or had hoped it would be. That is why Jesus calls it “WORK.”
To believe is work, it is labor, it takes effort, it is an act of the will. How can we know we believe until our faith is tested? How can our faith become strong unless it is tested regularly, and with more difficult testings each time? Faith is not a mere word, W-O-R-D, faith is work, W-O-R-K.
“What must we do to perform the works of God?” asked the people. And Jesus replied, “This is the work of God: Have faith in the One whom he sent.”
Now shall we get back to work?
