Putting Faith Into Action

Last night I had the opportunity to watch two people put their faith into action.

I was with my daughter as a man worked on the brakes on her car. When he had finished putting the new brakes on she asked him how much she owed him. She had been told that the labor for putting on new brakes was about $100 or maybe a little more. She stood there shocked when he told her $40.

She handed him more than he asked and we left.

Now you might be asking what does this have to do with putting ones faith in action and that is a good question.

Here is my take on what happened.

The guy works as a mechanic in a dealership and gets paid for each car he works on. He has a family and one of his children is a special needs child. The day he worked on my daughter's car was a slow day and he spent all day at the dealership and did not work on any cars so he received no pay for that day. Getting $100 for the brake job would have gone a good way toward replacing the income he did not receive that day.

The church this man attends teaches that we are to help the widows, single moms and orphans. He was putting into practice what he was being taught. The roots of his actions are found in James 1: 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

My daughter is a single mom who is working and going to school. Every dollar is needed as she takes care of four children with little other financial assistance. When she heard him say what he was charging she could have given him exactly what he asked for but instead she gave him more although not as much as she thought she would have to pay. She was practicing what the church she attends in paying a man a fair wage for the services he performed. Her actions are based in Proverbs 3:27-28 (The Message) 27-29 Never walk away from someone who deserves help;
your hand is God's hand for that person. Don't tell your neighbor "Maybe some other time" or "Try me tomorrow" when the money's right there in your pocket. Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting.

Both the man who worked on my daughter's car and my daughter put their faith into action. Their actions were not acts to be saved but acts resulting from their salvation.

As I walked to my car the Holy Spirit moved me to tears because I was able to watch two followers of Jesus acting in such a way that made the Father smile.

Blessings Instead of Cursing

Wow, heard a great sermon today by Ed McGlasson about the Father's blessing.

One of the things he brought up was how many churches, like the Vineyard, have focused on breaking the curses of fathers which are rooted in what we find in Exodus 20: 4-6 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

What we sometimes do when quoting scripture is to stop before we share the entire scripture. For example in the above verses God says He will curse those who make for themselves idols but we fail to read down to verse 6 where He says He will love for a thousand generation those who love Him and keep His commands.

I am sure someone reading this will say but wait I am not guilty of having idols or making an image I bow down to but see if any of these fit:

Do you put more energy into any of these than you do knowing God? Pornography, greed, money, jealousy, material possessions, love of self over others, drinking, drugs, smoking, gambling, and the list goes on and on. These can be all idols that you have placed before God and result in cursing instead of blessing.

The hope we have is that when we accept Jesus God will exchange the cursing He has placed on us for having those idols in our lives and replace it with blessings found in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New American Standard Bible) 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Today's sermon was about the receiving and granting the Father's blessing and this was just a small part of the sermon. Over the next few days I will try to share other points Ed made. I hope that if any of you experienced having a lousy father that you will come back to read the other posts.

I believe God wants to give you a blessing that you can pass on to your children, to others and even to your father if he is still living. He wants you to have this blessing because you are a new creation in Christ and you are one of His adopted children.

He wants only the best for His children.