What’s valuable to a Christian

Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.  Usually it's during one of my "sitting and thinking" periods that ideas for my editorials arise.  It was during one of those recent times that today's effort came into my mind.  Of course, some things that I happened to have read assisted me in my thinking.  Here's a couple of my thoughts.

 

I was watching the news depictions of one of our recent fires and all of the homes destroyed by it.  I thought about what all the home owners must have lost when their home burned.  Got me to thinking about what people would try to save in those situations.  What's valuable to them.  This led me to a thought about what's valuable to a Christian and why it's valuable.

 

You've no doubt heard the old phrase "you can't work your way to heaven."  Well, that's true in the sense that we can't "do" enough to "merit" salvation.  We're saved by the "grace of God."  But, in another sense, our "works" are of great value to us.  Think of it this way: "works" are what validates our "faith."

 

I guess that what I'm saying is, that "faith" is the driving force of Christianity.  But, God's word says that there has to be more than just an acknowledgment of "belief."  There has to be evidence of it that can be seen.  Probably the best scriptural reference we can look at is the one found in James 2, verses 13-17.  Let me just cite it to you here.

 

"What good is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?  So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead."  (ESV)

 

So then, when we go back to considering what's valuable to a Christian, I think you'd have to say that "works" are of great value.  It's sort of comparative to money.  Money really has no value unless it's used.  "Faith" has no value if we don't use it.  It's our "works" that are the using of our "faith." 

 

And why I say that "faith" without "works" is valueless is because of what else James says right after the verses cited above.  In describing someone having only "faith" or "belief" he says, in the terminology of today, "big deal, even the devils believe and tremble." (Vs 19)   Therefore, if we don't exercise our "faith" by doing "works" that show it, we're no different than the demons.

 

Well, let me shift my thinking-gears here and move onto another thought of mine.  Any of you that have read my editorials in the past know that I have a great love for our old hymns.  I suppose that "The Old Rugged Cross" is just about as well-known as any of them.  If you look in your songbook at this hymn you'll see that it was written by George Bennard, and I'll add that he wrote it in 1913.

 

Let me tell you a little about the man who wrote this hymn.  And, of course, keep in mind that like most hymns, it started out as a poem with the music added later.  George was the son of a coal miner and when he was 16 years old his father died.  He had to go to work to support his mother and 4 sisters so he never really had any formal education.  Basically, he was self-taught.

 

He went to work for the Salvation Army and eventually he became a minister.  It was after he had preached a series of lessons about the cross of Jesus that he wrote The Old Rugged Cross.  It's reported that he authored more than 300 Gospel songs during his life.  I'm going to close by leaving you with one of his poems.

 

    God laid upon my back a grievous load, 

        A heavy cross to bear along the road.

    I staggered on, and lo! one weary day,

        An angry lion sprang across my way.

    I prayed to God and swift at His command,

        The cross became a weapon in my hand.

    It slew my raging enemy, and then

        Became a cross upon my back again.

 

    I reached a desert.  O'er the burning track

        I persevered, the cross upon my back.

    No shade was there and in the cruel sun,

        I sank at last, and thought my days were done.

    But lo!  the Lord works many a blest surprise,

        The cross became a tree before my eyes.

    I slept; I woke, to feel the strength of ten,

        I found the cross upon my back again.

 

    And thus through all my days from then to this,

        The cross, my burden, has become my bliss.

    Nor ever shall I lay the burden down,

        For God some day will make the cross a crown.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey