Works of faith

GOD IS personally touched when we give to the poor. Matthew 25 speaks of Judgement Day, when God will separate persons into two groups. One group He is pleased with, and the other He’s not. The dividing line is how they treated the poor and less fortunate.

Those described as sheep gained eternal life and a place in Heaven. When God talks to them He references their work, and it is about them pouring themselves into the lives of others. God identifies their actions as being personal to Him. The great truth of this Scripture is that Jesus sees this charity as giving to Him. “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40, NIV.)

If we want to bless God this Christmas, we must demonstrate His love through how we live – from a place of worship. Jesus must be on display. We should look to bless someone, in the love of the Lord, with a tangible gift. The need in our country is great. Touch Jesus by touching others in need. This will require us to be selfless. Usually at Christmas we spend a lot on ourselves, our family and friends. This isn’t the giving Jesus considers great. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that … 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great… .” (Luke 6:32-33 and 35, NIV.) The kind of giving that warms Jesus’ heart isn’t because of what we get in return.

We must be selfless in ‘gifting’ God. It’s about Him and the display of His glory. He must get the honour. This giving must be motivated by our love for God. It’s love in action. This love usually takes us out of our comfort zone and requires us to take the steps necessary to minister to those who are in need, at their point of need.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV.) The greatest of the three foundational attributes isn’t faith or hope, it’s love. This type of love requires selflessness and a humble attitude. Our work in this life doesn’t save us nor does it keep us saved. “8. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God —” (Ephesians 2:8, NIV.) We are called to do ‘works of faith’. We aren’t saved by these works, but we’re proven by them. Faith is only proven by its works. “What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient — genuine faith produces good works.] 15. If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace [with my blessing], [keep] warm and feed yourselves,” but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do? 17 So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].” (James 2:14-17, AMP.)