Show me your faith

My friends, especially Christians who said they love God will all their heart, their soul and their mind, I want to challenge you to prove your faith. I have met many Christians who said that they have faith in Jesus but I can't see Jesus in their life at all. Many of them behave no better or even worse than unbelievers. To those people I would suggest to change their status from "Christian" to "stumbling block" because if they insist to claim themselves as "Christian", God will judge them more strictly.

We can talk and quarrel about words and doctrines about faith till cows go home, but people need something practical, not theoretical, not just in the mouth and full of hypocrisy. They must be able to see our faith through our life. Bible said that we must be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Let our light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).

So allow me to ask you something, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it (James 2:14-16)?

Do you know that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead? But some of us will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." To those people, Bible again said, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do". My friends, if you believe that their is one God, you are still no different with the demons, they even shudder (James 2:14-19).

These pictures reflect the daily life in my country, Indonesia. I believe that it also happens around the globe, or even in our neighbourhood. Let me ask you, my friends: Do they work? Yes, in fact they work really hard. Do they have enough? No, they don't. They live in poverty. Whose fault is that? Government? Corruption? No, it is our fault as Christians, who claim ourselves as ambassadors of Christ, children of light. Our life doesn't reflect our faith, our life doesn't reflect that Jesus is in us.

About corruption, you tell me how many Christians work in the government or institution? Do they stand against corruption? No, many of them don't. They conform or even they have the biggest share. Bible said, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is --- His good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

Daniel was put into den of lions because he didn't want to defile himself and act against God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into fiery furnace because they refused to worship idol, Mordekhai was threatened to be hung on a gallows because he didn't kneel down and honor men, but God alone. Early Christians even though they were threatened not to speak any longer about Jesus, they refused. Some of them persecuted and some of them died martyr. All of them refused to conform even though they had to pay the price with their blood. Bible said, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:25)".

Now, how about you, my Christian friends? Do you choose to be rather persecuted or to conform? Many of us because we are afraid of losing job, afraid of persecution, afraid of being mocked by people, we begin to conform and try to justified ourselves, etc. My friends, do you know if you do that, your faith is dead? Do you realize that you are the seed which fell among the thorns and it is highly possible you will end up in lake of fire? Do you know that by conforming and involved in the corruption, you make your people suffer? Are they not your brothers and sisters? Many of them are lost and under yoke of the devil, will you not go to them and break their yoke or will you take advantage from their bad situation? My friends, please show me your faith.

About poverty, you tell me how many Christians who are rich? Do they help the poor and the needy? Statistic says that only a few of Christians is doing that, what about the others? They just want to be richer and richer by oppressing the poor. Do you know that love of money is root of evil? If you know that, why do you like prosperity gospel so much? Why do you go to church just to receive God's blessing, not His rebuke? "Say with your faith that at the end of this year, you will have Mercedes SL500 in your garage" said the prosperity preachers.

My friends, what is your money for? Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:23-24).

Why? Because if money can satisfy all your need, why do you need God? When you are sick, you will go to the doctor, not God. When you need advice, you will go to your consultant or your lawyer, not God. When you need help, you will go to your wealth manager, not God. When you want something, you will go to your assistant, not God. When you need to spend time with God, you will be too busy for that. For you, time is money. You put God in your box, you make Him small in your eyes. Money is your god and you love money more than you love God. Bible said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21)". My friends, please show me your faith.

Bible said, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Bible also said, "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother (1 John 4:20-21)".

If it is difficult for you to love other people, to forgive people, to bless those who persecute you, you are not yet children of God. For the Bible said, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8). If you love your money more than people, if you love your pets more than human beings, if you love your status, your position, your work more than people, if you love those who love you, are not even the tax collectors doing that? When you start conforming to the world and become one of them, the love of the Father is not in you. The world and its desires pass away, but man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:17).

My friends, if right now you hold high status in the society, if right now you have great wealth, I said this with love to you, you better stop thinking about yourself and start helping those who are in needy. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need (Ephesians 4:28). Stop doing corruption and stealing from people, you have committed great sin everytime you took part in that dirty money. And to those who are rich, if you want to know the reason why you keep working non-stop and never satisfied enough, it is because you are under God's curse.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God

If you have Jesus in your life, you will not care about wealth, about people's opinion, about persecution, etc for His grace is sufficient, Jesus is more than enough. Your heart will be fully satisfied. Bible said, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it (Matthew 13:44-46).

When you have known the true Gospel, the true God, your heart will finally find its rest. In this world we are trying to satisfy our heart desire, we look something to fill the hole in our heart. It can only be filled with love of God and once your heart is complete, you will learn the secret of being content in every cases, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, you can do everything through Him who gives you strength (Philippians 4:11-13). You will not worry about tomorrow, you shall not in want, you will depend on God 100%, you will rejoice in every situation for God is always be with you and your heart is just full of joy. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Romans 5.2-5).

So, my friends, Bible said again and again that our deeds are not observing Law, are not doing sacraments or traditions, are not following golden rules, etc but love. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love (2 Peter 1:5-7). Do you read that? Faith is the foundation and love is your goal. Faith without love is dead.

1 Timothy 1:5

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Paul, Peter, and James always put stress on love to accompany our faith and if you have those qualities in increasing, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins (2 Peter 1:8-9).

Before you are able to love others, you need to learn first about goodness, about knowledge, about self-control, about perseverance, about godliness, about brotherly kindness, then you will be able to start loving unconditionally. My friends, if you can't love others you better ask God to give you more wisdom, more grace or you better repent first, there is still hope for you. But if you don't want to love people, you better change your status from "Christian" "children of God" to "stumbling block" "children of darkness" because you behave like your father, the devil, you lie like him, you cheat like him, you murder like him, you steal like him. There are only 2 options for you, "repent" or "perish", "start loving" or "drop your faith". God bless you