"Surprise"

I have often felt surprised,

By the ones who live those cowboy lies,

They never made those old, long rides,

It’s all a bunch of talk,

‘Cause they don’t walk the walk.

I have often been amazed,

By what I’ve seen on hard work days,

And some stepped up by sweat unfazed,

And really cowboyed up,

‘Fore they went to the truck.

I have sometimes wondered why,

Some have the look, but show no try,

While plainer hands will do or die,

It’s not how cool you look,

But what’s in the tally book.

Humility is hard to find,

And some have found they’re in a bind,

‘Cause God resists them every time,

His grace is what they need,

If they would just pay heed.

So, go be punchy, no critique,

But just make sure your do and speak,

Go together strong, not weak,

It’s just the cowboy way,

And all will be okay.

And one last lesson for us all,

Our faith should show by works that call,

Attention to the Lord, recall,

It’s not an either-or,

But the way we live and more.

So go surprise ‘em by the way,

You live your life and day to day,

What you do and what you say,

It’s what you advertise,

Live out the truth, no lies.

“I will show you my faith by my good deeds…” (James 4:18, NLT)

How do we show to others who we are and what we believe? According to James we show it by what we do. We may claim belief in something, but only our actions really prove it. Some pose and pretend, while others actually get things done. This doesn’t mean that we earn God’s salvation. No way. We are given salvation by God’s grace. We receive it by faith. But then we learn to live it out. Paul tells us God works it in while we work it out. We don’t do good things to earn God’s favor, but show that we’ve received God’s favor by what we do. When we love Him, the world gets the overflow.

Lord, teach us to consistently live out what we believe, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Mark Maggiori, markmaggiori.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Mark, and God bless you.