When our faith becomes obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, it is true faith indeed.
The difficulty for modern Christianity is not that it doesn’t understand what the Bible says, but that is doesn’t want to accept its plain instruction. The untamed heart will not be persuaded; we cannot get our world-loving minds to make Jesus Lord in fact, rather than in word only. But, as Jesus warns us, it is one thing to say “Lord, Lord” and quite another to have ears to hear and a heart to obey. We can sing all the hymns of praise we like but until our faith becomes faithfulness our melodies fall upon deaf ears.
The spirit of the world is a powerful beast and it knows only too well how to play at religion with every appearance of sincerity; it will organise charities for the poor and needy and espouse a “social conscience” with passionate public declarations. It is happy to participate in religious ceremonies where the Word is preached and men raise their voices in praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. But all of this takes place with one condition; let Christ keep His distance, let Him be under my control, rather than the reverse. Satan is not worried about such as these; but let a man take Christ as Lord and He will know the fury of him who seeks to establish his own throne where that of Jesus rightfully belongs.
However, we have a far more powerful resource standing ready to help us if we will but reach out to Him; the Holy Spirit of God. He must be sought in spirit and in truth. We will not injure the cause of Christ by admitting our failings and our sins, but we will surely do so by denying them; unsaintly saints are the tragedy of modern Christianity. The Holy Spirit is sent to give us what we can not otherwise have; truth and life. All good things come from Him; He reveals good truths, suggests good thoughts, helps bring good achievements and leads to good results. Those who yield to His direction become good; those who obey His guidance do good, they who live under His power receive good. Goodness is His fruit and His provision for those who seek Him.
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