Did you see footage online of a young man named Alex Honnold climbing up the outside of Taipei 101, a 1,667-foot skyscraper in Taiwan? (The 101 refers to the number of floors!) It took him a little over an hour and a half and he did the whole thing without any ropes or safety gear.
Netflix did a live broadcast of the climb - with a ten second delay, just in case Alex lost his grip along the way.
Why did Ales make the climb?
Well, Netflix paid him half a million dollars.
But Alex says he didn't do it for the money.
In fact, he would have done it for free. He did it because it was fun. It's what he was made for.
We should take some inspiration from Alex when it comes to our understanding of faith.
Recently when I have said that "faith" in a biblical sense necessarily involves works, I have come to realize that some people think I'm espousing what's called "Lordship Salvation", a system where good works are REQUIRED for salvation.
"You're saying we have to earn our salvation through our own righteousness", I've been told.
Honestly, that concept had not even crossed my mind.
I'm not talking about doing God's will in order to gain His approval or avoid His judgment.
Or earn salvation.
Remember Ephesians 2:10? "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life."
Our good works don't earn salvation. They ARE salvation.
Salvation is being restored to what you were created for in the first place.
It may be challenging at times and scary at times but being in the center of God's will is the most fun place to be, hands down.
It's a joyful thing in and of itself and I don't see how (or why) someone would want to separate it from "faith".
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