Faith without works is dead

Doctor’s Office

A man walks into a doctor’s office with sore knees, sleep apnea, poor circulation and breathing difficulties. He weighs 0ver 400 pounds and has diabetes. The doctor prescribes a change in lifestyle habits, adding moderate excercise and some dietary restrictions, including adding some salad to his routine. Within two years he has lost over a hundred pounds, his diabetes is gone, his knees feel great and he is sleeping well.

A second man enters the doctor’s office and has hyperactive thyroid issues and crohn’s disease. He is woefully malnurished and dangerously thin. He also can’t sleep well at night as his gut sends shoots of pain around his body. The doctor provides him with a prescription for his thyroid, and the man has surgery to remove some polyps on his bowels. The doctor encourages this man to AVOID vegetables, and even encourages adding more carbs to his diet. After the surgery and new medication he begins to put on weight and his body composition balances out. His nervous system settled down and he began to sleep better.

the doctor in this story had the same goal for both men, get them to a healthy weight, deal with any imbalances in their body, and help them sleep. But they recieved two very different diagnosis and wellness plans.

Because they were experiencing very different health problems.

Diagnosis of what will help a believer be healthier

Have you ever read two scriptures that seem to contradict each other?

Psalm 46:10 (NASB95)

10 “Cease striving and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Exodus 14:15 NASB95

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.

Exodus 14:10–18 NASB95

10 As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. 16 “As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. 17 “As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 “Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”

The Bible is VERY CLEAR....yes it often is, but it is being applied to you and me, and WE are not often very clear.