C.R. Mooney

Jesus isn’t an accessory added to your “better life”, He replaces your life with His.

I was reading in James 2 today, and ran into this little ditty:

“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (vs 18-19)

Wow!  If I have faith in God, but it does not lead to me actually obeying, and doing what He says, my faith is dead, and equal to that of demons.  Ouch, that hurts so good.

Here is the entire passage, James 2:14-26 (NIV)

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. “

Here is an audio clip from Damon Thompson about how some of us are vaccinated with God instead of infected.  In other words, we have enough that we aren’t in danger of spreading the Gospel to anyone else.

Damon Thompson – Vaccination

Here is a painful thought.  Sunday, Sept. 26, my time at church + devotions + other “religious” affects = 2.5 hours. My time watching football = 4 hours.  Who is really Lord of my life?

If you asked me to describe myself, I would say I’m a good dad, a hard worker, and funny (OK, maybe not the last one).  I love God, I love my family.  I honestly cannot think of one person who would say they hate me.  I am generally a friendly person and will go out of my way to get along with people.   In short, I’m a “nice guy.” (This is going somewhere, please just follow me for a minute.)

I have worked very hard at living in such a way that I can call everyone I know a friend, not an enemy.  I try to follow the teachings of Christ and love people how I feel He would; overlooking faults when I can, taking the low road to keep the peace.  I attend church regularly with my family and we give to people in need when we can, sometimes when we can’t.

For many years, I have felt good about this.  Like God, I have said, “It is good.”

I fear however that I have missed the mark.  No, I have missed the entire target.

When I talk with others, I hear things like, “You’re on the right track Mooney, keep it up.”  “You’re a great man of God.”  And I feel good about it.  It makes me feel good about me, and where I am at with God.  Then I go home and read my Bible, and get a completely different feeling; one of being so far away, on the wrong road even.

In Revelation 21:7-8, John tells us about the new Jerusalem that awaits God’s people.  Then he writes these words:

“He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

I read this and thought, “I’m in!”  Holy Spirit prompted me to read it again, so I did. He who overcomes inherits, YES!  I felt to read it again, and again, and again.  What is it God? What am I missing? I’m no murderer, no adulterer, and no warlock, what’s the deal?  I’m the nice guy, right?

Then it hit me.  I am in the list.  God!  How could it be?  It didn’t take even a single moment longer, and I knew.  I’m not anywhere near the end of the list, but the very first one: the cowardly.

How?  It hurts, but here we go.  It’s because I really don’t love anyone like Jesus does.  Maybe the closest I get is in loving my wife and kids, but she could tell you I still have a way to go.  Other than them, there may not be a single soul.  My interpretation of “loving people” is wrong; fiery lake and burning sulfur wrong.

All this time I have valued the relationship more than the actual person.  I have so not wanted to offend others at the risk of losing a friend, that I have neglected the one thing that matters, their soul.  I have kept silent while hoarding the gift of eternal life.  This is not how Jesus loved at all.  He gave his very life so that we could have eternal life, I can barely open my mouth to offer it to those I claim to love.

There’s something deep inside me that won’t let me live this way any longer, and I won’t.  There is a lost and dying world, and if I claim to follow Christ, then I must tell others.

Here is a poem from an unbeliever to his “Christian” friend.

My Friend – by D.J. Higgins

How many of our friends and family know that we are a Christians? Do we love them enough to tell them why you live life the way we do? Why we believe?

Jesus said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38).

Luke 6:46a: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,?’”

I ran into this verse today, and it really has me thinking. I have to look at my motivation, reason, and if it is even true. The second parts says, “and do not do what I say?”

Am I really obeying? Really?

Why do you call Him Lord?

Why do I care so much about how many hits this blog gets and not how many demons are being cast out of people?

“Salvation… is a gift, not a wage.” ~ Arthur Wallis

There is so much to be unpacked in that tiny statement.  Here is a link to the book Into Battle, the quote is from page 24.

When God says, “I am _____ (peace, love, mercy, good),” He means that without Him, you are not.

Your thoughts?

The Black Eyed Peas hit a home run with this one. Where is the love? The answer to that is that it starts with me.  I say I have faith in Christ, and I am His disciple, but where is the love?  Am I showing my family love?  Am I showing my neighbor love? Am I showing my enemies love?

We need to remember that our battle is not against men, it is against principalities and powers of darkness.  It is against the father of lies (Eph. 6:12). How can we love God, that we cannot see, if we cannot even love our brother, who we can see (1 John 4:20)?

Your thoughts?