This post was made in response to this awesome post. Find the link here.
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HERE.
Before we go further, let's have a critical look at Luke 23:39-42 (NIV)
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
The thief at God's right hand didn't only believe in the innocence of Jesus but he also believed in His teachings of eternal life. He professed his faith in Jesus when he said 'Remember me when you come into your kingdom' and Jesus rewarded his faith by telling him he would be with Him that same day.
Will it be sufficient to then say we only need faith and not good works since he was only saved by his faith and God already said without faith, we can't please Him?
There is a timestamp where the case of the thief at the right-hand side was concerned. There is absolutely no time for him to do any good works because he was going to die any minute but for us as Christians, we are encouraged to do good with every chance we have, as long as we are still living.
2 Peter 1:5-9 (NIV) explains this better
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
So, as believers, we need to do more than faith as long as we are living. That's why Jesus used the illustration He used for the disciples in Matthew 25:43-45 (NIV)
I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Doing good should be in our renewed attitude if we claim we have faith in God through Jesus Christ. You can't claim to love if giving is not part of you. How do you love when you won't show an act of charity in any capacity to anyone? Love drives us to do good and that's why the Bible recorded that everywhere Jesus went, He was doing good.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 & 13 (NIV)
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
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Thank you for your time.
My pen doesn't bleed, it speaks, with speed and ease.
Still me,
My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.
Olawalium; (Love's chemical content, in human form). Take a dose today: doctor's order.
