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FAITH AND GOOD DEEDS

“Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” James‬ ‭2:15-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬
I accepted Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour when I was at Primary 4. I was put to make a decision after reading a Muslim comic about hell. And I knew to escape hell, I need Jesus, the only way to heaven.
One thing that troubled me that time, “what will happen to grandma?” She had died possibly without ever heard about Jesus. To me she was an angel, the kindest person I had known. Without fail, she would feed two crippled brothers who came her house every day. They were unable to make their own living, poliomyelitis since they were infants. In those days, the crippled esp if they were also poor were despised. Perhaps the same in the 1st century as well as in today’s 21st civilisation. Grandma didn’t give them the leftovers, but she prepared enough food to feed the family and these two crippled men, as if they, too, were her responsibilities.
Wasn’t hers a living faith? Unreservedly helping the needy, the outcast?
Surely no one will ever have enough good deeds to earn heaven, not even my angel-grandma. Salvation is only by God’s grace. (Later as I grew more mature in faith, I believe somewhere, somehow grandma must have had a divine appointment with Jesus, in her lifetime or in the other realm believing God is all just, all powerful and all loving.)
How about we who claim to know and believe in Jesus, and have been given the eternal life? As the Spirit of Christ lives in us, will His grace and mercy not move us to touch others’ lives? Do we feel what Jesus felt when He saw the poor and the helpless? Do we do what He did?
When seeing the poor and the destitute, Jesus was moved with compassion because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Mat 9:36). When seeing the 5000 hungry followers, He was concerned about them and fed them before sending them back to their villages.
“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John‬ ‭2:6‬ ‭NIV
~plt140818

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