Believing and Obeying

Last night I came home from the office, walked into the house and immediately I accused my dear wife of "shrinking" a coat of mine by over drying it. Where did that sinful accusation come from? Why was it that instead of appreciating her efforts to wash and dry the coat that I chose to find fault. It didn't take too long for me to realize that I had just wounded her spirit and I asked for forgiveness. Once again the enemy had gained a brief victory, but through the shed blood of Christ the ultimate victory is mine. When I consider this incident in light of John 4:36 it is sobering. ‎"He who believes in the Son (Jesus) has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life..." (John 3:36). I would not expect the word "obey" to appear in the second half of this verse because I don't naturally equate belief with obedience. But Jesus certainly does. He set up this verse declaring that those who believe gain life and those who do not obey do not see life. Genuine belief in Jesus is evidenced by genuine behavior. Those who believe, behave and those who don't behave (obey Jesus) don't truly believe. These words strike at the heart of "lip service" whereby we are tempted to say, "of course I believe" while our behavior may be totally inconsistent with what Jesus expects. So does my condemnation of my wife over something so trivial as possibly shrinking a coat mean that I am not truly a child of God? Those who are trusting in Christ's death alone as the payment for their sins are truly new creations in Christ (2Cor.5:17) and are no longer slaves of sin (Ro.6:3-6) but they are not perfect. Whenever those who profess faith in Christ sin we can confess the sin and experience renewed fellowship with God (1Jn.1:9), but we should also take time for a "gut check" to see if as a pattern of our life we are growing to be more like Jesus in my behavior. If not, then I have reason to question the sincerity of my belief. Indeed, we are saved by grace through faith, but it is equally true that those who truly believe are growing in Christ-like behavior (not perfect, but progressing). I believe the Word of God teaches believers that they are secure in the Father's arms (Jn.10:27-28) but that truth is to be held in tension with the fact that genuine faith is always evidenced by good works...belief impacts behavior, attitude determines actions. We are never to rationalize that we are eternally secure simply because of a "prayer that we prayed" but only when our faith is evidenced by fruit. Granted that there are ups and downs in our consistency, there are dry times spiritually, there are struggles in which we stumble and flounder, but the true believer is, over the course of time, convicted, repentant, and pressing ahead.