Do you have 'Saving Faith'?

A recent post by C Michael Patton, Why I Don’t Like “Once-Saved-Aways-Saved” , made me think about the marks of 'Saving Faith'. I'm not sure it's all that complicated, though I'm also sure I'm missing something - can it really be this simple I wonder? Of course 'easy to say' doesn't mean 'easy to do', nevertheless I think that discerning whether someone has 'saving faith' can be broken down into three simple points:

1. Do they believe in God and in Jesus his son, our Saviour?
2. Do they do 'good works'?
3. Do they show fruit in their life?

No ONE element is sufficient, ALL are necessary. Thus:

1. Belief is necessary:

• Romans 3:22 '... God's righteousness in Jesus Christ by faith to all who believe ... ' (my paraphrase).

BUT belief on it's own without the other two won't help. 

• James 2:19 'You believe in one God, great, so do demons and shiver.' (my paraphrase).

2. Good works ARE necessary:

• Matthew 25:31-46: The 'parable' of the Sheep vs the Goats
• James 2:17: Faith and no works is 'dead' (Gk: necra)

But works on their own are simply 'dead (Gk: necron) works' Heb 6:1 & 9:14

3. Fruit or Christian character.

• Galatians 5:22-23 '... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, slow temper, kindness (Gk:chrestotes), goodness, faith, meekness, self-control ...'

Do we see the Christ-like character in ourselves, or in others?
Not perfection clearly but do these fruits become more evident in the way we behave towards our fellows? If not, I venture to suggest that you need to seek God earnestly.

So there it is - my handy checklist. It's not deep theology (so needs to be treated carefully) and, I hope, nothing new but if we don't have ALL three elements in our lives I tentatively suggest that we have NOT got 'saving faith'.

In all this I must conclude by reminding everyone that above all else

• 'God is love' (1 John 4:8 and again, in case you missed it the first time, in v16) and
•  that God 'is unwilling that any should perish' (2 Peter 3:9).

 God really wants you in heaven.

Prayer - listening AND talking

Many people quote Soren Kierkegaard "A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realised that prayer is listening." Christian Discourses (source not verified)

I know that Kierkegaard had a much broader view of prayer, see all the prayers he writes as an example. While I feel that Kierkegaard's quote is a vital reminder to us, nevertheless I like Leithart's way of putting it: "Prayer is a dialogue, a matter of mutual speaking and mutual learning. Prayer is inherently an act of trust, evoked by confidence in the word of God and by hope that God can and will do something in response to our prayers. Anyone with the boldness to ask God to listen to his or her words and petitions should do God the courtesy of first listening to his."

Leithart, Peter (2006), 1 & 2 Kings, SCM Press, p.130.