|
About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Productive
Faith I believe all aspects of
God's creation were designed to be productive.
Humanity was to be responsible to oversee creation's productivity
as well as being productive itself (Genesis 1:28).
Productivity is basic to God's essence, so it makes sense that all
of creation is to be productive. A
seed planted into the ground produces plant life.
A human seed planted into your mother produced your life.
God's Spirit seed planted into you produced your spiritual life.
Life is to be productive, not stagnant as Ephesians 2:8 to 10
states. "For it is by grace
you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." I was saved by faith, by
trusting Jesus with my life. The
verb "saved," sozo in the Greek text of Ephesians 2:8, suggests
my initial salvation was a completed action performed by God alone,
resulting in me being a valid saved person.
I could not have earned this because it's way beyond my ability.
Besides, Jesus paid the price for me and it would be blasphemous to
think I could add to what Jesus has done.
Adding any qualifying action apart from faith to be saved is
unbiblical, but it's what church has consistently done throughout its
history.
Once being saved by the
faith provided you and I by God (Romans 12:3) salvation should produce
good works in our lives. I
acknowledge that not all Christians exhibit the same measure of
productivity. Some of us are
thirty percent productive while others may be sixty or even one hundred
percent productive (Mark 4:8). It's
just life in our present entropic material existence. That being said, I'm sure Jesus can help us be a
bit more productive. In today's church I see
what appears to me to be those who claim to be Christian based on their
decision to adopt their brand of a Biblical belief system.
That saves no one. Others
appear to me to be genuine Christians who simply sit in their preferred
pews every Sunday. For them,
salvation seems to be stagnation. If you are a Christian,
you have been born again (John 3:3 - 5) as a newly created person, someone
you have never been (2 Corinthians 5:17).
You have become God's "handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to
do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do," as Paul
wrote in Ephesians 2:10.
Yes, the seed of
spiritual faith that God planted within you, like a seed planted into the
ground, is to blossom forth into a beautiful productive Christian life for
all to see and benefit from. It
is your godly calling in life. Scripture
References Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them
and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and
subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over
every living creature that moves on the ground.'" Romans 12:3 "For by the grace
given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly
than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." John 3:3 and 5 "Jesus replied, 'Very
truly I tell you, no one can see the 2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new
is here!" Mark 4:8 "Still
other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some
multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times."
|