As we should know by now, the life in Jesus Christ is the only life that is worth living. We know in that life, we have an assurance of eternity; a hope of salvation. So, the purpose of this article is to point out some things that are required of the life in Christ.



Some people could mistakenly assume that all that is required from a person who has believed in Christ is just that; believing in Christ. They could go on to continue living life in any way they deem fit because they feel they have that assurance of salvation since they believe in Christ.

But believing in Christ means having faith in him and also living a life according to the doctrine which he set down through his apostles. Living this life is made possible only by the grace of God. And living that life helps us to strengthen our faith in God.



2 Peter  1:1-8 says:-



“From Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be yours in abundance through the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.

Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge,

your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with endurance, your endurance with godliness,

your godliness with brotherly kindness, and your brotherly kindness with love. 

For if you possess these qualities, and if they continue to increase among you, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”




The verses above are quite clear and it is pretty obvious from those that I made bold, that our faith in Christ is to be supplemented by those attributes, which if when done, would reflect in our day to day activities and would result in our being effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus Christ.



We, as Christians, were not called for anything on this earth but unto good works. This much is made clear in the following chapters/verses of scripture:



Ephesians 2:8-10:



“For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God

and not the result of works, lest anyone boast.

For we are his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.“


2 Timothy 3:16-17:



” All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

so that the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work.”


Titus 2:14:



“He gave himself for us to set us free from every wrong and to cleanse us so that we could be his special people who are enthusiastic about good works.“




As Christians, our way of life is to be full of good works. In other words, a Christian; a person who has faith in Christ Jesus, is fruitful only when his/her life is full of good works.



A person who claims to have faith in Christ and doesn’t have good works to show for his faith; that person definitely is not a follower of Christ’s doctrine and therefore, does not have faith in Christ.

James 2: 18-26 has something to say about this.



James 2: 18-26:



‘But someone may say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without any works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
You believe that there is one God. That’s fine! Even the demons believe that and tremble with fear.
Do you want proof, you foolish person, that faith without works is worthless? Our ancestor Abraham was justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar, wasn’t he?
You see that his faith was active with his works, and by his works faith was made complete. And so the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” And so he was called God’s friend.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, Rahab the prostitute was justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them away on a different road, wasn’t she?
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.’





Pretty glaring isn’t it? Anyone who claims to be a Christian/born again/child of God, and doesn’t have any good works; and thus no good fruit, for his faith, such a person isn’t a Christian and thus, isn’t saved. The verses above made it clear that even the demons believe in God but that doesn’t make them saved.

That means anybody can believe in God and not be saved due to lack of good works to show that he/she is saved.

Any one that is a child of God bears fruits and these fruits are borne out of good works.

A life in the Spirit, that is; a life in Christ, bears fruit.



Matthew 7:18-20:



“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree not producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire. So by their fruit you will know them.”



John 15:4-5:



“Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”



John 15:8:



“This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and prove to be my disciples.”



One might ask, “What is the fruit of living the life in the Spirit which children of God of attain through good works and by which they are identified among every other person?”

The answer is very simple. Once again, God’s word; the bible, gives the answer:



Galatians 5:22-23:



“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.”


And going further down,



Galatians 5:24-25:



“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”



From all said in this article, it is very obvious what is expected of a life in the Spirit, that is; a life in Christ or a life as a Christian.



One other major point to note is this: Our faith in Christ produces the will to live according to the doctrine of Christ, and therefore live a life that is accompanied with good works that bear fruit.

Also, these good works do not have a part to play in giving us our salvation, but rather they are useful in our walk as Christians,they identify us as Christians, and they help us to develop in character.



To make sure one is always in track in the expectations of this life, we have one source to fall back on, and that is the word of God; the Bible, which is God’s inspired word to us to serve as our guide in our walk with him.



Stay blessed.



NB:   All scripture chapters/verses in this article were quoted from the [b]International Standard Version[/b]of the Bible.

Thanks for the post ttalks!

I know say Abuzola go soon show,

petres_007:

Thanks for the post ttalks!

I know say Abuzola go soon show,

No sweat Peter .

Well,, as regards Abuzola, he definitely will have his objections. It's programmed that way for him I guess.