"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." (Thomas Edison)
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" (James 2:17 to 21)
I saw a report which stated that the majority of young people in the United Kingdom do not want to get into full-time employment; and I’m pretty sure this can apply to other nations, such as the United States, Canada, and so forth. A couple of the reasons cited are the possibility of layoffs, as well as the new technology of AI (artificial intelligence) which they feel will be a threat to their replacement. Many of them are seeking to go freelance or be self-employed; while, at the same time, they want to be financially comfortable, with a substantial number wanting to retire early. Yet, according to the author, many of them don’t know what it is to put in a five-day work week.
I can say, without one hint of doubt, that many of them are going to be in for a rude awakening someday when they discover that they won’t achieve their desire of prosperity without the willingness to “get their hands dirty”.
Now consider another segment of society: Christians. The primary doctrine of Christianity is salvation through faith; and virtually everyone who calls themselves a believer knows it. There isn’t anything whatsoever that we can do to merit our salvation but to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. His blood is the ONLY way of being received by the Father.
There is, however, something which I tend to think far too many professing believers have failed to understand or have been unaware. When we accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and submitted ourselves to Him, we didn’t just receive eternal life.
We entered into a covenant with the Godhead.
"But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." (Hebrews 8:6)
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10 to 12)
"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:" (Hebrews 12:22 to 25)
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20 and 21)
There’s a reason that I included verse twenty-five in Hebrews 12 about not refusing Him, even though it seems to be different than the other portions which speak of a great new covenant, and I’ll explain that in a bit. Right now, though, I want to touch upon the covenant that we’ve entered into with God.
Whenever a “covenant” is mentioned, many believers tend to think of the Old Testament and of the covenants that God made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and with a number of other people in the first thirty-nine books of the Bible. Yes: they assent to being a partaker of the New Covenant through the blood of Jesus; but I’m pretty sure the reality of that eludes them. Now this isn’t a blanket statement, because there are multitudes of Christians who realize the import of this and prove it through their lives. But, for those who seem to be missing what the Lord is speaking about, I want to attempt to present a couple of thoughts about the covenant that we’re a part of today.
First: we made a covenant with the Father when we made the decision to accept the sacrifice of Jesus. In it He agreed to give us eternal life, to adopt us into His family, and to bring us into His likeness. In turn, we agreed to accept Him as our Lord, to be obedient to Him through His Word, and to subject our carnal nature to His Spirit. And, contrary to what a lot of people believe, this is not the be all and end all of what God has to offer. Rather, it’s the entry into His Kingdom; and He has infinitely more for those who will choose to follow on with Him.
Second: this covenant is a combination of faith and work. The faith part is believing that God will fulfill everything He promised when everything He promised seems impossible. The work part is to do the things He requests us to do so He can manifest His Kingdom through us. This work requires sacrifice; and that’s the part that far too many Christians tend to shy away from. Paul, through the Spirit of God, tells us:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:1 and 2)
We also read what Jesus said.
"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:37 to 39)
The things that the Lord requires of us should be our reasonable service to fulfill; yet they aren’t for far too many Christians. And if others have a hard time telling the difference between our lives and the lives of those around us who are not believers, then we’d better seek the Lord for Him to help us to be more like Him.
There are too many Christians who are trying to have a secular life and a spiritual life. Jesus never made the distinction of a spiritual and secular life. He was given over to the Father; and everything He said and did and thought were dedicated to manifesting the Kingdom. It was the same with Paul and James and John and Peter, as well as with all of the Old Testament and New Testament fathers. What I’m saying is that, other than salvation, of which none of us is worthy, we’ll receive from the Lord comparable to what we’re willing to give. I want to clarify that it’s not equivalent, just comparable. In other words, the Lord ALWAYS gives us infinitely more than we deserve; but the more we’re willing to give, the more He’ll give.
That brings me to the overalls.
Every Christian who believes that faith is the ONLY thing necessary to attain all that Jesus promised is missing a vital part of their spiritual walk. The Lord requires us to stand in faith with whatever He says, but then He expects us to put some skin in the game. Christianity demands work and sacrifice virtually every moment of our lives; but if we aren’t willing to make the effort, we won’t come into the deeper things of the Spirit. We’ll find ourselves on the outskirts of the Kingdom desiring to, but not having the ability to, enter in. We’ll have missed an eternal opportunity because we won’t have been willing to give the sacrifice that should be our reasonable service.