Paul didn't pull any punches with those who claimed to be people of God. "Put your money where your mouth is," is an old saying that is spoken to challenge people to stop talking and start doing. However, let us remember that the gospel must also be "preached" if others are to "hear and believe." The accounting God will require of us will be about how each of us have responded to God and His gospel in Christ Jesus. It won't be just about the telling then, but the living out of it that God will judge in the end. Jesus and His apostles proclaimed the gospel for people to come to faith in God. But they all admonished that with the believing comes a transforming of the way we think and a change in lifestyle. James put it very succinctly, "Faith without works is dead."

Our deeds spring from what we believe in our hearts. And, Jesus was the best at not being moved by "outward appearances," but knowing what was "in the heart of man." He said that "out of the treasure of the heart the mouth speaks." He also inferred throughout His ministry that the deeds we do also flow out of what we treasure in our hearts. Jesus is clear that He came "to save the world" not judge it. He goes on to say that God will judge the deeds of man according to His righteousness. That means He has not changed His hatred of sin nor His warning that those who disobey His commandments continually are, as unrepentant sinners, condemned to face His wrath. How important, then, is it for us to daily allow the light of Christ and the Spirit of God to search our hearts and effect transformation through the written and the Living Word, "full of grace and truth?" "Today if you hear My voice, do not harden your hearts," says the Scriptures. Why? The results will be devastating!

"Being a believer and follower of Christ is worth something if you obey Christ's commandments; but if you don't, then you are no better off than the those who don't believe in or follow Christ." (Paraphrase of Romans 2:25) Think about it.