David believed God’s promises and this pleased God. But David the proceeded to live his life under God’s direction. This verse summarizes David’s life in a general way as he reigned in Israel. It says, “So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people.” In the following accounts we read of great deeds that David and his men performed in bringing victory over their enemies and freedom to the people.
Everyone has faith in something—faith in some religion, faith in one’s self, faith in fate, faith in evolution, faith in mankind. Even the atheist has faith in his own reason. But there is only one real faith that works for time and eternity. True faith is faith in the one true God—the God who made us, who will judge us, and who has paid the price to save us. No matter what you “believe” in, it will affect how you live and what you do.
But please notice that David’s faith was followed by a lifestyle, just as Abraham’s was. Faith, by itself, is dead. If it produces no works, it is lifeless and ineffective. Faith alone without works is as dead as a body without breath. If you put a monitor on someone who professes to have faith but displays no outward evidence, the monitor will show a flat line. Without the outflow of our faith into works, we are flat line Christians.
When William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, spoke to Soldiers he would use an illustration they were all familiar with; marching! He said, “Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again—until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.”
In Matthew 5:16, Jesus tells us, ” let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Chuck
“Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.” James 4:11