… others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ … (2 Corinthians 9:13) (NIV)
I love to cook. There’s joy in blending ingredients to achieve dishes that surprise the palate without being weird. I’m in my happy place when I chop, sauté, season, and garnish.
Notice I didn’t say wash. I hate dirty dishes. Soggy hands, greasy pots—yech. But food and dishes go together. You can’t enjoy one without the other.
Jesus feeds us delicacies of grace. God loves me, the Spirit guides me, all my sin is forgiven—yum. And my hunger spikes at the mere thought of paradise. But I can’t devour the words of grace, and then, refuse the dishes of obedience.
Paul warned Timothy about a time when people would gather preachers that teach what their itching ears want to hear. Today, we have to be careful that in our zeal to win new converts we aren’t guilty of scratching ears. We rightfully preach that faith in Christ alone saves, but we often hide the fact that not all faith is saving faith. The demons, for example, have faith, but not saving faith.
If I ever repeated a sinner’s prayer, or responded to an invitation, I’ve made a good start. But the only Biblical indicator of right faith is obedience. It’s called by other names—repentance, holiness, righteousness—but it’s all obedience, obedience to God’s ways of life as prescribed in the New Testament Bible.
God knows how short I fall in my daily obedience to him. But I stay on a trajectory of improvement because I don’t want to be among the masses on judgment day who say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t I accept you as Savior?” only to hear him reply, “I never knew you, and you proved that by disobedience.”
Faith alone in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus saves, and a growing obedience demonstrates the right kind of faith. The dishes really do come with the meal.
Prayer: Jesus, I accept both the forgiveness and the obedience of grace.