By Their Works

“They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works.” (Titus 1:16a CSB)

Along with the verse above, consider this one spoken by Jesus, “You’ll recognize them by their fruit,” (Matthew 7:16) and this one written by James, “Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.” (James 2:18)

Jesus, Paul, and James all agree – faith, in order to be real, must be expressed and is, in fact, expressed in how we live our lives. That certainly does not mean that we can just engage in good works and expect that to equal faith or become faith. That is like putting the horse before the cart. The life of the redeemed begins with faith, and that faith then finds expression. We believe, then we do. It is always in that order.

By the same token, some folks think that just “believing” is all that is needed, and that the life we live is unrelated to that. In other words, they believe that living life any old way is just fine. Any lifestyle is all right, they think.

The Bible is very clear about this. Real faith finds real expression in real actions in real time. This is how it always is. This is the life of the redeemed, those who have come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, based on faith in Him.

Lord, Help us each day to live the life we say we believe. Amen.