Whose Side?

But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Mark 9:39-41

Sometimes I think we are too quick to discount someone’s faith, or even a part of that faith, if it doesn’t sit well within our own understanding of Scriptural truth. We set aside many other Christians of different denominations who hold their beliefs sincerely, and live out that faith in better ways than we do ourselves, and yet we dismiss them as misled or just plain wrong. Now and again, when I hear someone I know, or have only heard of by reputation, saying something I don’t like or believe, I have to stop myself from saying, “..but the Bible says” as if I am the only one reading the Word and trying to live by its teaching. I am not that perfect person who knows all, and come to think of it that perfect person doesn’t exist this side of heaven. We must avoid the trap of being ‘elitist’ in nature, word, deed, or thought.

Our greatest example and perfect leader did not fall into that trap, so should we not be closely following our Lord and Saviour? Jesus was careful to separate actions ‘in His name’ (which have their reward), while pointing out if they do these things, they cannot ‘lightly speak evil of Me’. I am reminded that we show our faith as being genuine by the works we do as a result of our faith. We come to believe in Jesus through faith, but if it stops there, Scripture says we are ‘dead’. That should pull us up short when we try to compare other people’s faith as inferior to ours when they are the ones who put action to their words. Instead of comparing the faith of others, let’s get down to working for the Kingdom. What is your gift or talent that God has already given you to use for His work? You can only use it when you find out what it is.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26