Don’t miss the convicting and motivational post today on Chris Gonzales’ blog.

And give me just a moment to share (again) an insight that one of his thoughtful, earlier posts inspired me to add as a comment:

“Grace, faith and works are inseparable components in the way God saves us.

“Which component can you leave out and still have a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich? Bread? Peanut butter? Jelly?

“I think grace, faith and works are part of the sandwich.”

May I add that grace and faith are great … but by themselves they don’t paint the barn?

My crumbling preference for a grace-and-faith only relationship with God keeps getting bowled over by things like Jesus’ prophecy of the sheep and the goats (“…you did it not unto me.” – Matthew 25:31-46) and what He revealed to John (“The dead were judged according to what they had done ….” – Revelation 20:12).

When I feel proud that my faith is deepening and must be sufficient, I get jousted right off my high horse by Ephesians 2:8 (“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”).

Deep down I know that I can blog all I want to, teach all the Sunday School classes I’m asked to and write all the HeartWorship encouragements I can … but if I don’t LIVE OUT what I believe, I have absolutely zero credibility and my faith without works doesn’t work … it doesn’t even breathe (James 2:14-26).

And then there’s the secret ingredient to the GraceFaithWorks sandwich.

If I do what I do to puff up myself – instead of doing it out of love – I’m just making noise … I am nothing … I gain nothing (I Corinthians 1:1-3).

Next in this series: The GraceFaithWorks Sandwich: A Second Bite