If you declare with your mouth,
"Jesus is Lord," and
believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
Bible Rank: 10
A rich young ruler came up to Jesus, asking, "What must I do to [be saved]?"
Based on today's verse, how would you answer that question?
The first most important thing that you must do to be saved -- indeed, the constant litany of Jesus and the New Testament -- is "believe"!
Believe.
Believe.
"Your faith has saved you," repeated Jesus. Believe!
Are we clear on that?
Is there a second thing we must do to be saved? Well ... no ... and yes.
You see, true faith always manifests itself in action. It's a change in life. A reorienting of behavior.
Peter and Andrew, James and John, were called to leave their family, their careers, everything, and follow Jesus. They did and they were saved.
The rich young ruler was invited to go, sell everything he owned, and follow Jesus. He didn't. He went away sad.
The action Paul prescribes is proclaiming to the world you faith in Jesus as Lord. In his day and age that could have gotten you ostracized from your family, fired from your job, or killed by faith's persecutors. (That still happens today in many parts of the world.) And the point is this: True faith always leads to true action.
It's often "faith active in love." It always faith actively proclaiming some way and some how. It is faith active in service, faith active in sacrifice, faith active in generosity, faith evident in forgiving others.
In Christ's Love,
a guy who tries to make
his faith a verb
(nouns are things that
sit there; verbs are active!)
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