You have to do something for it… a lot in fact…

Today I had a tough conversation with X. He wasn’t doing well, and he wondered why God wasn’t helping him with everything. When I asked who God was to him during this difficult time, he gave a rather vague answer… “God existed, God could do anything, God was love” and that was it.

When I asked him what he did for God, he had no answer. Nothing. He lived his life, did his best, but doing something for God? Is that even necessary?

Then I asked him what his life looked like with that god. And that life with God… was not there. He lived his life, wasn’t the best person, did his best, but also knew that sometimes he did things that were absolutely wrong. (we’ll leave the details aside here) He actually liked doing those kinds of things sometimes to be honest…

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Matthew 7:16

And then we have a problem… because the Bible says that you have to do “something” before the God of the Bible will “lift you up”:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

James 4:7-10

And only if you do that, then:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

James 4:7-10

“Being double-minded,” as that verse says, is not going to work. It’s A, or B.

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Matthew 19:22

So yes, you have to do “something” for it… a lot of it in fact… but if you do… there is eternal life! And that’s more than it costs you. But YOU have to make that choice…

And yes, you are not saved by works, but by faith:

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.

Ephesians 2:8-9

But once you are truly saved, there will(!) be good fruit, like the verse in Matthew 7:16 tells us. No doubt about it. If there ain’t no good fruit in your life… that’s a red flag… What god do you believe in? The one that does ask you to follow Him for 100%, or a “made up one” where you can make that “god” to follow your own rules…? The God does save, the other “your own god that does not cost you anything”… does not.