| "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but no deeds?" ".. faith by itself, if not accompanied by actions is dead." James 2:14 & 17 What is our understanding of "deeds"? To a true follower of God, "deeds" are attitudes & behaviour expressed in godly righteousness & in harmony with our faith in God as well as God's law of nature. However, these deeds are not about external good actions to be seen by others. (Good by the standard of society is not necessarily righteosness in God's sight.) It is neither just a matter of following God's commandments. It is more than discipleship & believing in our salvation in Christ as expressed in our personal piety, church attendance, bible study or works of charity. It is our Christian way of living out our faith by our attitudes & behaviour in obedience & reverence to God & His Righteousness. It is about our inward thoughts & desires resulting in our outward behaviour (attitudes & actions). And they should all be coming from a pure heart & clear conscience in God's sight, without succumbing to the pleasures & pressures of our society. This means that whatever we do, we do it whole-heartedly for God & in His Love & Grace. Dt 6:5 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength." However, not many of us are serious enough with our relationship with God & that our deeds (righteous & otherwise) bear witness for or against our Heavenly Father. Our failure to recognise the influence of our heart & mind over our deeds often result in the lost of control over the "quality" (sinful or righteous) of our deeds. Sin is going for what is wrong & not doing what is right before God. Knowing what is right & condemning what is wrong does not mean that we have already done what is right! Due to our sinful nature, we tend to please ourselves rather than God. Often, it is much harder to recognise our foolishness when we are carrying them our because they just seem so appropriate then. Sometimes our deeds my give the impression of godliness but it actually comes with worldly attitudes & selfish desires. (eg : attending church for business contacts). Or our actions my not be wrong in itself but can be sinful if our deeds is of unrighteous motives such as greed or selfishness. (eg : charity works for self gain & recognition) Worldliness is not limited to our external behaviour or being determined by the places we go; the people we associate with or the activities we enjoy. Worldliness also begins from within us. Gal 5:16 " ... the cravings of a sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has or does." Such worldliness will be seen in our attitude & behaviour towards others and the situations we are in. Our deeds reveal the true underlying beliefs, attitudes and motives in us. To help ourselves "manage" our deeds, we need to recognise the 3 basic factors which makeup "deeds" : (1) Heart + (2) Mind + (3) Actions / Behaviour = DEED It is important to know that it is our heart & mind which push us to act. Our actions produce reactions; our behaviour produce consequences. However, as helpful or hurtful others may be or how pressurizing life can be, we are ultimately responsible for our own deeds. If our heart is pure, our mind is of clear conscience & our action is positive then our deeds will be righteous. If one (yes, just one) of the 3 factors is not in line with God's teachings, the deeds is no longer righteous. When our hearts or minds are not right with God, whatever good imporession we try to make or even a lifetime of doing good is still not acceptable to God. Doing good without the Spirit of God is not righteousness in God's sight. It is ungodly & useless to try pretend to obey God when our hearts are far from Him because He knows our true intentions. Jer 17:10 "I the Lord search the hear & examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." When our faith & deeds are working together, our faith is complete & righteous before God, just like Abraham's act to sacrifice his son on the altar. (Gen 22) But if we claim to be of Christ & yet others cannot see Christ-likeness or God's teachings in our conduct, then we are said to "have faith but no deeds" and such faith is but a barren belief only! Have we ever seriously consider if our deeds is of godly righteousness? We may say "there's too many things we do in a day, how can anyone manage to be that serious!" The fact is : A true follower of God can and he actually lives happier, more fulfilled & rewarding lives by almost every measure. (How?) He understands & accepts God's law of nature & practices God's teachings conscientiously in his attitudes & behaviour. He relies on God's guidance and spiritual wisdom to know reality & accommodate himself in it. He is wise if God, living a real life worthy of the Gospel of Christ & serving a purpose for God. He does not conform to the world as he trusts God in all circumstances. He makes effort not to sin against God. Most of all he lives for God rather than himself. Although we cannot choose what happens to us, we can choose our attitudes & behaviour. 2 Tim 2:22 "Flee the evil desires... & pursue righteousness, love & peace...out of a pure heart." We should keep ourselves from whatever is harmful or distract us from being effective Christians. Wrong desires & temptations happen to everyone so do not allow ourselves to be overwhelm by difficult situations because we have our Almighty God to help us resist & overcome them! In Rom 12:2 Christians are called to "not conform any longer to the pattern of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." Transformation can only come from within us when we allow the Holy Spirit to renew, regenerate, re-educate & redirect us to walk righteously with God. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. When we allow the Holy spirit to be incharge, our attitudes & behaviour will come from what God does within us. "...the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." It motivates us to produce deeds which are God-centred and in reverence to God. "...live by the Spirit..." & "...Keep in step with the Spirit." Gal 5:25 The Holy Spirit will guide us to be discerning with the people we relate to, the issues being discussed, the kind of materials we read, the music & movies we enjoy because these are part of our mental diet influencing our mindset & heart desires. Of course, we need to try & remove anything unwholesome and focus on whatever is godly & pure. Phi 4:8-9 "..whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things... put in into practice..." At the same time, we pray diligently for God's guidance to choose to do only what is righteous. At the end of it all, we will realise that being Christians can be fun & joyful too when we choose to invite God into the things we do. Therefore, we ought to be sensitive to our hearts & minds and be willing to follow God whole-heartedly and not to be tempted to satisfy our desires in a wrong way. Eg : Stealing food (sinful deed) to satisfy hunger Eg : Immoral acts (sinful deed) to satisfy sexuality Temptations comes from the evil desires inside us, not from God and when we give in to such desires to become action, we sin. Such understanding & awareness is vital as it helps us make sense of the situation we are in - knowing the forces (within & without) hostile to our faith & enable us to prepare ourselves stand firm in Christ with the armour of God. (Eph 6:10-20) For the children of God, our deeds are also our expressions of our faith & love for God making the difference in us from the non-believers. So let us take time & make efforet to know our heart desires and our mind (motives) every time before we act. Maybe we can ask ourselves some questions like these : a) Will I do it if God knows it? No one knows it? Someone knows it. WHY? b) Why am I doing it? Any ulterior motives or selfishness? c) Is there any fear of being caught doing it? WHY? ..... etc Only we ourselves know the true answers which will help us know the "quality" of our deeds. As a child of God, we need to be sincere with God. Jesus taught us to "wash the inside of the cup and not just the outside". Transformation comes from the power of the Holy Spirit within us and not the forces without. We must not be like the pharisees or the religious leaders who were outwardly appearing holy but inwardly full of hypocrisy (Matt 23). We should be pure from our inside so that our behaviour (outside) can be righteous. We have to learn to submit every aspect of our lives to God - physical, emotional, social, intellectual, vocational. Let us be wise to hear God's teachings and practise "... like a wise man who builds his house (ie our lives) on the rock (ie Christ)" Mark 7:24 Just as a fruit tree is expected to bear fruit, God's people should produce good deeds. If others cannot see our faith in God from our attitudes & behaviour, it is time to ask ourselves : "Where is God in my life?" Irene |
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| For God will bring every deed to judgement, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. - Ecc 12:14 |