“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” – Eph. 2:8-9
To illustrate this truth I keep the following story in my drafts.The story is told of the pastor, of a small country church, who tended to major on the negative, “thou shalt not’s” of the Christian life. Once, after a Sunday morning service, where he had preached against everything that moved, he was invited to the home of a farmer for Sunday dinner. After dinner, the farmer said to the pastor, “I would like for you to come and meet my donkey.” Not wishing to offend the man the pastor agreed, but asked, “Why do you want me to meet your donkey.”
The farmer replied, “Well, preacher, my donkey is a Christian!” The pastor was taken back and said, “Don’t be ridiculous! No donkey can be a Christian.” The farmer said, “Well, according to your sermon this morning, he is a Christian. He doesn’t drink; he doesn’t smoke; he doesn’t swear; and, he doesn’t work on Sunday. So, according to your sermon he must be a Christian!”
We look to the Christian life as what we do; whereas, God looks to the Christian life as who we are! We base it on performance, whereas God bases it on position.
To us, the Christian life is defined by what we do with our hands; but, to God, the Christian life is who we are in our hearts. Simply put, according to God’s standard, true Christianity is a matter of the heart.
The ironic thing is that who we are eventually shows up in what we do. It’s not a case of where we are what we do; but, we do what we are! In other words, eventually what is unseen on the inside will become seen on the outside.
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
