What is:

  • Love without faithfulness?
  • Peace without righteousness?
  • Justice without truth?
  • Faith without deeds?
  • Forgiveness without grace?
  • Freedom without cost?

Put another way – “What good is it?” We cry out in protest for love, for peace, for justice, for freedom, yet we often care less about faithfulness, righteousness, truth. Our cries – care-less.

We often want one thing without the other. We cry for something we must have, without room or thought of what must be with it. Such is how we see it; our design.

God wants things as they are to be; with the other. Two are to be as one; not just in co-existence but co-function, to reconcile, entwine, kiss (Psalm 85). Such is how God sees it; His design.

Consider the following 10 verses and their meaning for you in your Christian walk:

  • What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
    (James 2:14,18 NIV)
  • If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
    (1 Corinthians 13:3, 6-7 NIV)
  • Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
    (Psalm 85:10 NIV)
  • The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
    (Isaiah 32:17)
  • Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.
    (Psalm 89:14 NIV)
  • He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
    (Micah 6:8)
  • Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
    (Isaiah 59:15 NIV)
  • Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
    (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)
  • It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
    (Galatians 5:1)
  • Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
    (1 Peter 2:16 NIV)

What is it that we cry for; for which do you or I cry? What good is it, if it’s not complete? As those who claim Christ as Savior and Lord, let us take to heart the whole counsel of God’s Word before we utter loud words of our own making and design. We just might see things differently, perhaps as God sees it.

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. ~ Psalm 119:18 NIV

—RWO/MAST