Faith and Deeds

This one is from my good friend Terry Buster:

In his study in Hebrews (Experiencing the Presence of God) A. W. Tozer references the hymn, “Trust and Obey.”

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Tozer uses the two wings of a bird to illustrate the symbiotic relationship of faith and deeds. With two wings the bird flies freely to the glory of God by doing what God created him to do. One wing will not do. It takes two to fly.

So it is with faith & deeds. It is not enough merely to trust God. Having a a self-satisfied ‘faith’ which leads to serving self while setting aside uncomfortable labor in the Kingdom of God is not the faith of Scripture. It is the foolhardy wish that in the end, God will ignore one who cherry picks nice sounding words from the Bible while refusing to bow the knee before the omnipotent God.

The same is true regarding good deeds. The desire to find salvation by adhering to the Law of God or well intentioned, altruistic attempts to make this world a better place (which is anchored in the philosophy that all people are basically good) is fundamentally rooted in the idea that we can do it on our own. The best image I can give of mere obedience is that of a man attempting to bow down at his own feet.

Trust and Obey. As the writer of Hebrews puts it, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). We begin with faith and continue in faith. But our continuance in faith only comes about as we grow in humble obedience to the call and command of our Lord. “Faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead” (James 2:17).

True life is found through trust and obedience. God did not send His Son to bear our sins on Calvary to recreate us in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) so that we would find satisfaction in believing what we want to believe. Jesus did not die so that we could invent new ways to serve Him. Christians are made anew in Christ to fly.

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”