Caution – there are spiritual infants among us! A spiritual infant is a person that has accepted Christ but keeps a death grip on the law thinking that it will somehow mean that they are righteous or that it was put into place to show others they are “on the right track!” To this I surprise them when I say, “ok but you know that isn’t scriptural, right” the most common response is, “faith without works is dead” – welcome to the Sound Bite Gospel!
“You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.” – James 2:20-23
“Faith without works is dead” is the most common way to try to circumvent Grace as it seems so cut and try in the infants mind of concrete thinking that it must mean law – right?
NO! No it doesn’t and it you will read the passage above again which comes just after “Faith without works is dead I will explain why in one simple question.
Where is the law that say you should sacrifice your child on an alter to God?
Abraham wasn’t following a law that day when he took his son up the mountain and his son looked at him and said, “hey dad aren’t we missing an animal to sacrifice?” To which Abraham had to be questioning God, himself and everything on what he was doing – BUT he did it anyway!
The doing it anyway – that was crazy Faith and that is Righteousness – NOT works of the law! God will allow you amble opportunities to “do it anyway” and when He does it is often a Very Real struggle just like it was for Father Abraham here – but that is where Faith grows and FAITH Heals and Faith stabilizes and grows lilies in the middle of a barren land! FAITH unlocks the riches of His kingdom because you see every breath as His kingdom!
