Y'all, She Reads Truth has me all tangled up... in a good way! If you are a regular reader you know that I blogged recently on finding Hope From Exodus. Today, I would like to follow up hope with grace and faith.
What good is it if I claim to have faith without deeds? Suppose someone is without clothes, food, or the basic essentials. If I were to say to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but do nothing about their physical necessities, what good is it? As a Christian, what do my actions say to them about my Jesus? Certainly I would have let them down tremendously. Mere words are not enough to carry through with faithful action. In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is completely dead. My faith alone is not enough for this life if I choose to not accompany it by actions that praise the Lord. Also, in the same, works without faith is dead.
In the same way, the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Works alone will not be enough to enter the Kingdom gates. Now, do not get me wrong, the gifts of salvation, repentance, mercy, and grace are still free gifts. And, while these gifts mean new life and a fresh start as a Christian, they must be accompanied by faith that can move mountains. Am I perfect? No way! I am perfectly imperfect. Praise Jesus everyone in our world is different because if we were all just alike, our world would be totally and completely boring. Sometimes faith can seem like a denial of reality, but that is because we are holding on to reality that is more real that the reality that we can perceive with our five senses. Let go, let God.
Give away your life; you will find it given back, but not merely given back--given back with a bonus and a blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Luke 6: 38
Take heart, we are covered by His grace. We are Forgiven.
Let your life be an outpouring of all He has poured out on you.
Last Thursday night my husband and I may or may not have had a in depth heated discussion about being attached to social media and the drought it was causing in our relationship based on the time we spend together in the evenings. Over the weekend he went south to hunt and I stayed home to catch up on school. I had some time to think and pour out my heart to Jesus. Sometimes it is so difficult to hear your flaws from another or personally admit distractions when you are constantly on the run and not in absolute focus. Now, since my husband is the head of our home he had every right to call me out. First and foremost, Tony is my husband. But he is also my accountability partner which represents great strides in our marriage and relationship as children of the Lord.
I can tell y'all, this weekend was reflection at its best! Talk about convicted. Sometimes you have to get out of that personal comfort zone to truly find peace within your heart to move forward and work through things on your own for the benefit of your self and those around you. Not only was I allowing social media and emails to consume my time with husband, I also was allowing unneeded tasks (as well as the two examples listed above) to consume my walk with the Lord.
If you read my post on Saturday, Confessions: Being A New Wife you may have noticed that I mentioned that I was no longer going to post on Sundays. So starting today I have decided to push away from the social media world all together on Friday evenings until Monday mornings and truly pursue My Word For 2013. Recently, I prayed the Lord would show me what I needed to work on in this life in order to live more out loud for Him and I am taking a stand to listen for His directions. By His grace I am saved, now I must put my faith into action.
I would like to redirect my respect for the Sabbath by keeping it holy, as it was designed to be. Somehow, I have ventured away from this commitment to the Lord. Also, I would like to redirect my respect for my husband and the time that we have to spend together. The most important thing for me to do as a wife is put Tony above all the other earthly mess that I have going on, NO.MATTER.WHAT. He deserves my full attention and time when we are both free and available in the evenings, not emails or social media.
As a wife, one of the hardest things that I have had to learn is that just because you get married does not mean that you get to spend every waking moment together. Some days, the only time we get to communicate is over a late dinner or while getting dressed in the mornings because our schedules are so different. No matter what it takes, I am committing to LIVE for the Lord more through actions, not only through my faith because faith alone cannot stand up to the giants of this world. No matter what it takes, I am committed to valuing the time I have with my husband doing absolutely nothing. For one day we will look back and want these years.
Nicole over at Bloom the Blog made an interesting point the other day in reference to using social media for enhancement and encouragement or "just because I should"? [Pertaining to this subject, her post is phenomenal should you be interested in reading more! I highly, highly recommend taking a glance at it!] Once I was able to read her post on Friday after Tony and I had our discussion on Thursday night I was like, "Really, Lord? First Tony, now this blog post..." but I realized that Jesus was trying to get to me in every way possible! Blog world, social media, and emails are awesome but they are not everything. With all I have, I want my life to be an outpouring of all He has poured on me. I ask the same of my marriage, too. From here on out, I am no longer going to allow social media or emails to consume my weekends.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the time you have with those you love. I will be back Monday! I will continue to read and answer your emails and comments within the week, too! Thanks for the love, understanding and support. :)
I am linking up with Quite The Blog and others to share this post which will be included in the Saturday morning coffee call! Check out all the other wonderful bloggers joining in! :)
PS- If you missed any other posts from this week, look no further! I got you covered! Thanks so much for reading! I am loving visiting all the new blogs and responding to the sweet comments! Thank you or your support, blog friends! :)
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