Your faith is lived out in your works.

   We think that we can privatize our faith.  The Devil surely wants us to.  And it definitely is more comfortable to do so.  But the Devil does not want our comfort.  He wants our eternal destruction in Hell.  It is definitely not comfortable there!

   “The world offers you comfort. You were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness.” [Pope Benedict XVI]  The Devil tries to trick us into seeking the comforts of this life in order to destroy us in the next.  It is not comfortable to do the good works that Jesus has called us to live out.  But He does promise us comfort in the next life.

   What are the comforts that you might lose?  Sleep, prestige, money, family, friends, esteem, etc.?  None of which you can take with you.  If we see family and/or friends in the next life, it is because they have made the same choice we made.  Do you want comfort in this life OR in the next life?  You cannot have both.

   If you believe that Jesus Christ saved you and offers you eternal salvation, you would do the works that correspond with such faith.  Trying to help others like Jesus did.  Not only did He reach out to those in need physically, He reached out to those in need spiritually.  Before we tell others to “repent and believe in the Gospel” [Mark 1:15] like Jesus did, we need to “repent and believe in the Gospel” ourselves.

   Do not be mistaken.  Your works will not earn you Heaven.  Jesus Christ paid the price to open the Gates of Heaven for you.  You and I are called to have a faith in Jesus.  And “just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” [James 2:26], so we live out our faith by our works.  Our works is how we know our faith is alive.

   Jesus, You did the Will of The Father.  The works were difficult at times and torturous at others.  Help us to do the works that The Father wills for us to do no matter the comforts that we have to forego in this life and take us to our eternal comforts when we take our dying breath.  Amen.