This is my first Blog entry... I was wondering for quite some months what to write about here that could be edifying to all.
Well, yesterday something interesting happened and I think it totally matches the grace project view so I think it’s a good idea to share that experience. So here it goes:
Yesterday I took my car to a company to get washed and cleaned... They said it would take one hour but when i got back they said it was not done yet so I should wait a few more minutes in the front office of the company.
While there, after a few minutes, an old lady come in and started talking. She asked me and the company’s attendant if we were used to read the bible. The girl answered no and i answered yes. So she kind of started to preach to us about Jesus and the gospel. So far nothing wrong, but as a Jehovah witness follower she soon started saying about how our works would save us! And how our names would go to the "book of life" based on our attitudes. (I don’t know if you have this cult there in UK, but here they are not considered protestants, but rather something else - they use the bible but have some quite different interpretation of it...)
Them I turned to her and said: No... what saves us is not our works, but our faith! ... Which she replied the text of James and I said: yes our faith is dead if it has no works at all, cause it’s a matter of consequence... if we are dead (trough faith only) with Jesus we are resurrected with Him trough faith only too... and being so we are born again and it’s impossible for us to do not bear any fruit at all... but in any case Jesus when he judges us, is not going to compare our "good works" and our "bad works" to see which one has prevailed and them condemn or save us....
The discussion went on for a little bit more and them she left, but the girl in the front office which was participating in the discussion started to talk to me now and said that she did not like to discuss religion and said that she did not follow something too specific but liked to see many forms of religion.
So we kept talking and she admitted being a non praticant catholic and also spiritist (Which is a quite traditional religion here in Brazil) and she said she thought it was ridiculous how some people used to do good things only because they were obligated to do so… like it would save them although they did not really care or “loved” that person.
Using her awesome view I added that this is really the meaning of the Cross which we read in the bible. That Jesus died to bring a new covenant so we could have been set free of sin and receive his commanded “printed” in our hearts witch is love.
And now we do good things, or good works, because we have God’s love in our life and we love our next… not because it’s some kind of painful obligation that we have to fulfill in order to be saved.
So this mistaken lady was a channel for me to introduce the subject to that young girl and to preach to her the true good news of the gospel of freedom and love that Jesus brought to us.
I hope this is edifying and please forgive me if I made any mistakes in English grammar.
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