To the Christian Rich - Trade NOW for THEN

^{But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.} 

^{Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.} 

^{Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.} 

^{Woe to you when all men speak well of you,} 

^{for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way.}

^{Jesus the LORD, Luke 6:24-26}

Think About the Work of God

"Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. In my vain life I have seen everything."

Ecclesiastes 7:13-15a

Saved THROUGH Faith, Not BY It

Perhaps one of the trickier matters of the Protestant Reformation, and our own day, was/is how to speak of the role of faith in salvation. During the Reformation this was highlighted due to the debate over the nature of justification. In simplest terms, the Reformers taught that a person is not justified because of his or her faith. In other words, God does not reward one's faith with then what is their due, namely justification, leading to a complete salvation. Instead, God gives faith to a person as the instrument through with he or she receives the gift of justification, leading to a full salvation. Faith adds nothing to God's saving work. It receives it. There is nothing in me, or about me, that commends me to God; not even my faith. It is my faith, in that it has been given to me to possess. Since it has been given to me, then of course it wasn't produced by me, or found in me, apart from being given to me.

On the last day I will not appear before God having anything natural to me in which I can boast. God saves a person without regard to his or her works, or worth. The gift is a true gift, meaning a free one. Their is no payment in it. There are no wages dispensed. There is no reward about it.