1080. Faith Is Not the Ministry of "Look at Me"

A couple of Bible verses misapplied here and a couple of verses there ... and all of a sudden—POOF! The slippery slope begins to rear its ugly head as even well-meaning subscribers to the message of God's unlimited grace begin to pivot when they declare faith needs to be seen outwardly through what one does. Otherwise (they say), the faith may be inauthentic or even dead. The talking point is all too common: "We're not saved by works, but" ... and they will begin to withdraw in the direction of proclaiming the need to prove or show evidence of faith.

Without realizing it, we're back to a mixed message that is not the gospel as it was communicated by Paul: "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness."

Jesus cautioned His disciples to avoid the "look at me" approach used by hypocrites who feel it is necessary to be seen with their doing. It is based in law, not faith. After all, faith is the evidence of that which is not seen. We walk by faith, not by sight. Anybody can perform outwardly and do good deeds ... and they don't have to be self-professed believers in Jesus to demonstrate something positive. Our motivation in Christ should be different than the self-righteous approach of boasting that desires to be seen. It's from a place of perfect love that God demonstrated to us through Jesus and it leaves us with nothing to prove outwardly for others to see or judge.




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