Friday May 29, 2020

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration:

How can we be washed by the Word? How can we drink of the water which will quench our thirst? Is it not by belief? Has not the Lord said that whosoever would believe in Him would have eternal life? Is not by faith and trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ that we are washed? Yes, it is by accepting Him, believing Him that we are saved. It is by putting our faith in Him that we are justified and made righteous. Yet this is not a belief of words alone, but one proved by obedience.

James 2:17-18 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (18) But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Too many people misunderstand the concept of faith and belief. They think all that is needed to say you believe. But what good is saying you believe if your life does not reflect it? Faith without obedience is false. For our obedience to His word proves our faith. Belief in the Word of God will change our lives, in that order. We are washed by the water of His Word through belief in Him, thereafter our lives are changed. We cannot change our lives in order to be washed by Him. It is by believing in, trusting in, relying on Jesus Christ that we are made clean. It is by accepting His sacrifice and all that it has accomplished that we are cleansed.

Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, (20) by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, (21) and since we have a great priest over the house of God, (22) let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

We are made clean, we drink of this water, not by our effort or ability, but by the grace of God. It is His grace which cleanses us. We cannot wash ourselves; it is He who must wash us. Just as Christ knelt down and washed His disciple’s feet, so we also must allow Him to do to us.

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

-Jared Freeman, “Life-Giving Waters”