19:10 The Proof of Your Faith

I receive a daily devotional from Bill Bauerle each day. I was really touched by today's devotional and wanted to share it with you. He shares this verse from Hebrews:

Key Verse: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Hebrews 13:7

Then he begins to talk about the true test that you are a Christian. Plesae read carefully. I beleive it will challenge you as it has challenge me! Blessings! Fred

“Remember” here is the idea of “consider” so as to heed admonish. The writer here wants us to consider the admonitions of the leaders in word and deed. We see here three areas that we are to consider:
1-The word they have spoken
2- The example they give and
3-The faith they exhibit.

We see first of all that God’s word is preeminent. We hear a lot about “deeds” today. Phrases like “no creeds but deeds,” aim to merely take the real substance out of Christianity, making it an empty shell. And while there is a need for orthopraxis it must always be based on orthodoxy. It is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16) not our deeds.

We notice, secondly, that there is reality that exists in their lives. Schaeffer spoke of the final apologetic as being the observable love we show one to another. He noted:

“In John 13 the point was that, if an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he is not a Christian. Here Jesus is saying something which is much more cutting, much more profound: We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.

Now that is frightening!!!

…The church is to judge whether a man is a Christian on the basis of his doctrine, the propositional content of his faith, and then his credible profession of faith… But we cannot expect the world to judge that way, because the world cares nothing about doctrine. …That is especially true [now] …men no longer believe even in the possibility of absolute truth. And if we are surrounded by a world which no longer believes in the concept of truth, certainly we cannot expect people to have any interest in whether a man’s doctrine is correct or not.
But Jesus did give the mark that will arrest the attention of the world…” (LOVE) "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35 KJV


Prayer: Father, I confess to you that I am challenged and convicted by this scripture! Forgive me for the times that I fail to love my brothers and sisters and thereby deny the truth of my faith. Help me Lord to grow in my love for you and my love for my brothers and sisters.