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Suppose you were standing on a beach, looking at an
albatross and admiring one of its wings- its right wing. Knowing that the
albatross has the longest wing span of any known bird, you say to yourself,
“what a wonderful and beautiful right wing.” You keep admiring how it spreads
its right wing and flies graciously in the air. As an artist, you bring out
your pencil and begin to sketch the albatross’ right wing, all the while
ignoring the left wing. Imagine that you take that experience and you go on to
tell people how wonderful the right wing of the albatross is and how it is the
only thing by which the albatross takes flight. Still you ignore its left wing.
Now, using this scenario, we can apply it to the concept of
grace and works in Christianity. For some people, they say that because we are
already saved by the grace of Christ we do not need to labor through works
anymore so we do not need to try our best to live right. With this mindset, a
whole lot of them revel in licentiousness without any regard for right living.
This mindset is admiring the right wing of the albatross and ignoring the left
wing.
Yes, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ but James
tells us in James 2 that our works accompany our faith. While our works do not
make us righteous before God, they are inevitable fruits of our righteousness.
If we truly have faith, we will act it out. Our good works are only a result of
our faith in God and our relationship with Him. If we truly love someone, we
will always seek to please them and we will avoid anything that offends them.
And sin offends God.
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