There are many different organs in the human body, but obviously one of the most important organs that we have is our heart, as it is the muscle that we need to pump our blood throughout our bodies, from the top of your head all the way down to your toes.
One experiment that my teacher had us do in school was to take our fingers and press them under our jaw line on our throat, so that we could feel our hearts beating and pumping blood. Once you find the vein in your neck, you should feel a strong, steady pulse as your heart beats.
This is one of the first things that an emergency worker does when they arrive at the scene of an accident. They check for a pulse to see if someone is alive, or dead.
We can do something similar to ourselves, but in our spiritual life. Are we alive in the Spirit, or are we actually dead inside? Is our faith strong and active, or is it weak and failing? We can determine this by our actions. The evidence of a strong faith will be a life filled with good works, and the desire to please Christ in everything. A strong faith will not only look like it in word, but in deed as well.
The opposite of a strong faith is a faith that is only for show, but there are no works attached to it. Really, I don’t know if you could even call it faith, as James wrote in James 2:17-20.
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”
Real, true faith and the evidence of a Spirit-filled life will be there even when no one is around to watch you. Jesus had some strong rebukes for the Pharisees because they were teachers of the law, and had an outward appearance of holiness, yet their works told a different story.
Matthew 23:25-28 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
We see how upset the Lord was with the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. They tried to appear to everyone that they were righteous and holy, living a vigorous spiritual life, but their spiritual pulse wasn’t there. They were spiritually dead inside. They weren’t filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians to examine themselves, whether they were in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). Were they doing God’s will for them? Were they walking as Christ walked?
John 14:6 teaches us Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Without Christ, we are dead inside. Some people may be able to put on a good show, but when you really get into their lives and examine them, they are spiritually dead.
A strong pulse is a sign of a healthy heart. So how is your spiritual heart doing? Do you have a strong, active faith that is filled with the signs of your good works?
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 