A Light for Your Path

Another beautiful Lord's day here. The sun is shining and the sky is clear blue. The heavens truly do declare the glory of God. Psalm 19:1

Have you ever heard someone tell you, "You do not have to DO anything to be saved"? Have you told someone that yourself? If someone believes this they will usually lead you to Ephesians 2:8 and say, "See? Through faith, not by works!" Obviously this person has not taken into account the entirety of God's word. We read in James 2 that we ARE justified by works and that like the body is dead without the spirit, faith is ALSO dead without works. So which is it? Does the Bible contradict itself? Skeptics would stop here and say, "YES!"

NO! The Bible does not contradict itself. Read the passage in Ephesians again. "for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory." (Ephesians 2:8, 9 ASV) "not of works, that no man should glory." What works could a person glory in? Well, works that they created by their own devices. So what type of works ARE we justified by according to James 2? Works of God. James refers to Abraham and Rahab and how they were justified by their works. Well who's idea was it for Abraham to sacrifice is son to God? Who's idea was it for Rahab to remain in her home to receive the spies? GOD. Abraham and Rahab, along with many others in Hebrews 11, did those things by faith in obedience to God. God TOLD them what to DO and they DID it. So when we are "doing" something to be saved, we are not "working our way to Heaven" as long it is something God commanded. We are simply submitting ourselves to God's will.

Please consider the following.

Mark 16:16- "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

Does that sound like if we DO NOT believe we can be saved? Does the word damned describe salvation? (Most people in the religious world will certainly agree that you have to believe in Jesus in order to be saved, leaning solely on John 3:16. Someone might even say, "You do not have to DO anything to be saved EXCEPT believe..." contradicting themselves.)

Luke 13:3- (Jesus speaking) "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Does that sound like if we DO NOT repent we can be saved? Jesus repeats himself just a couple verses later. Does the word perish describe salvation? (Here we go again. Someone might say to you, "You do not have to DO anything EXCEPT believe and repent..." contradicting themselves even further.)

Luke 12:8,9- (Jesus speaking) "Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God."

Does that sound like if we DO NOT confess Christ we WILL be saved?

John 3:3- "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Does that sound like if we are NOT born again we CAN enter the kingdom of God?

So is there anything we must DO in order to be saved? It does not seem like according to the word of God that all we have to do is believe. It is true that God's grace in an unmerited gift to all people, but we MUST obey Him in order to recieve His gift. Matthew 7:21; Hebrews 5:9 Notice the words DOETH/DOES and OBEY.

Please consider the "whole counsel of God" when you are studying His word. Acts 20:27

Poached perfection and firsts.

*Hello :) If you like what you are reading or have a comment please let me know! You can leave a comment at the end of each post. Thank you!

After reading many different methods on the internet about how to "poach" chicken, I finally asked a few of the other student wives here at school. The over all concensus says to bring your water to a boil (enough to cover the amount of chicken you want to cook) then drop chicken into the water and boil for about thirty minutes. I just tried it and sure enough it worked! I cooked three chicken breasts (skinless, boneless) to poached perfection! ...well, I think next time I will not let it cook as long. After thirty minutes I checked the internal temp of each piece of chicken and they were reading above 180 F which is well above well-done. Maybe the chicken won't be rubbery, dry and tasteless. I am putting it into a casserole so if it is it will at least be camouflaged by cheesy, broccoli goodness. *I am writing this as I cook and the chicken is dry and chewy. Surely the soups and cheese will make up for that.

By the way, the recipe I am trying tonight is from the Once-a-month Mom. It is a chicken, broccoli, rice casserole... something you have probably made more than once. If you will notice, OAMM used homemade cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup to make the meal more "whole foods" friendly. I, on the other hand, opted for the canned versions... making my casserole even less spectacular... :/ I am sure it will at least be tasty, and as my husband says, "It will". On second thought, you do not want to know.
*I did not go to the gym this afternoon because I did not poach my chicken last night, like I wanted to. I do not know why I always think "easy" when I think "casserole". I definitely got my work out tonight. Think two cups freshly grated cheddar cheese. Yeah. My cheese grating muscles are out of shape have never been used like this. Is that another first?!

So there you have it, the first time I have ever poached chicken. Another first for me occurred while preparing supper last night. I cooked a roast in a crock pot (My second time, so that is not what I am talking about.) and made gravy from the meat drippings! It was SCRUMPTIOUS! I love gravy on my creamed potatoes... yum. I am drooling thinking about it now.

I know. My cooking skills are elementary, but I have to start somewhere! Pay no attention to the fact that AJ and I have been married for almost three years. I suppose the first three years of our marriage I cooked a lot of the same things over and over. They were all things that I know how to cook very well. I use the word "cook" lightly. Usually just opened a few cans and mixed some stuff together and "Viola! Supper's ready!" I do make a mean meatloaf! ...ah, as good as meat loaf actually is, the name just does not do it justice! Loaf is just a funny word. Just like congealed salad is so delicious... congealed is just an ugly word.

What is for supper at your house tonight? Accomplish any "firsts" this week so far?

...congealed... blech.