If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.     James 2:15-17 HCSB

We are told in Ephesians 2:8-10 that we are saved by grace through faith. This passage goes on to say that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. I want to make this one thing clear, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. Only Jesus saves us. It’s not Jesus plus anything, it’s just Jesus. But, what I want you to understand is that if you are truly saved, you are going to want to do the work that He has prepared for you to do. Your whole “want to” changes.

I came to Christ to rededicate my life on a Sunday. I had stayed home from church for several reasons. First, I was just having a bad weekend and wanted to stay at home. Secondly, I wanted to catch up on housework before returning to work on Monday. This was not uncommon for me to stay home from church. The devil had an easy job of convincing me. But on that morning, when I gave it all up to God and trusted Him with it, everything changed.

I no longer wanted to sin. I didn’t want to do anything that would grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). I wanted to please Jesus. And, I couldn’t get enough of Jesus. I was happy and determined to go to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night and I looked forward to my mid-week refresher on Wednesday night. I was happy to go on work day and do whatever tasks were needed. I was happy to serve in any way I could. I went from making excuses to getting the job done.

Before this, I thought I was saved. I thought I loved the Lord and was serving Him, but truth be told I was serving myself. I put my needs before the needs of others and before the jobs that God had for me to do. Now, that was just the beginning of my journey, but I can honestly say that the more I grew in Him the more I wanted to serve Him.

We all have to work. We have to feed our families and be able to put a roof over their heads, but I have learned that if we put Jesus first and do what He calls us to do, He takes care of the rest (Matthew 6:33-34).

Following Him means serving others. It doesn’t mean that they have to be someone I really like or someone who truly loves the Lord, it just means I serve Him by serving them. I have come to realize that it is my job to go out and show the kind of love that Christ has shown me to others. This means that I forgive those who have hurt me or hurt those I love. It means I forgive those who don’t deserve it. It means I show love to people who may seem to be unlovable. We are told in Luke 6:23 that it means nothing for us to love those who love us because even sinners do that. It’s when we love our enemies that we are showing God’s love to others. When we love those who are sinful and don’t deserve our love, then we are imitating Christ (Ephesians 5:1). We’re doing what Paul talked about Christ doing in Romans 5:8, “in that He died for us while we were still sinners.”

There is a great deal of debate about once saved, always saved. I believe that once you are truly saved, you are always truly saved. I think the problem is that many people believe they are saved, but are not. They don’t live as though they are saved. My pastor often asks, “What were you saved from?”

So, how about you? Has your “want to” changed or is it the same? Can you see a difference in your life since you accepted Christ as your Savior or is it pretty much the same? Do you want to be in God’s presence? Do you want to meet with others and praise and worship Him? Do you want to give all you’ve got to serving Him?

Christ doesn’t want our half-hearted commitment and our left overs. He wants total dedication. Have you surrendered to Him?

Have a great day!