Slat and Pepper

              There are a lot of pairs in the world, like mustard and catsup, mercy and grace and salt and pepper.  My parents built a hot dog stand when we had a gas station for a couple of years.  On Saturdays, we would usually go to the wholesale food place and purchase large bottles of mustard and catsup for the stand.  You could run out of relish and onions, but you couldn't run out of mustard and catsup.  When you purchase  salt shakers for the table, they come in pairs.  One is for the salt and one is for the pepper.  A lot of things in life just seem to always go together.  If you see one, you also see the other.  We had two men, twins, in a city where we had a church.  They always walked together even though one would be ahead of the other.  People began to refer to them as Pete and Repeat.  Spiritually speaking, there are some interesting pairs.  I already mentioned mercy and grace but how about faith and works.  James 2:26 says, " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.  
     We all know the verse that reminds us about how we get salvation in the first place.  Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."  Salvation is free to all.  There is no catch.  There is no way of earning it on your own.  It's completely free.  So, what about James?  We also know that a great many people claim to be Christian who really are not believers at all.  How are we going to know the difference.  Well, we probably never will know for certain who are believers and who are not, but we can have a pretty good idea by using the thoughts of James.  If a person is really saved in the first place, there will be some kind of works that signifies that they are believers in the first place.  Faith and works will go together, hand in hand.  Works will be there BECAUSE of their salvation and no FOR their salvation.  When you think about it, that's a big difference.  It can be the same work for two people, one saved and the other not saved, but the reason they did the work was the opposite.  One did it to try to earn salvation, which they can't do, while the other does it because of their salvation, which was what Paul went on to say in verse 10 of the Ephesians passage.  If you are trying to earn your way into heaven by your good works, you will never make it.  If, however, you are doing good works as a result of your salvation, then you are manifesting your love for your Savior because of what He did for you.  Praise God today that we can show our love for Him by what we do.  Is your faith dead or alive?