James 2:14-24
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
Have you ever said to someone, “Call me if you need me!” and then secretly whispered, “Oh, LORD, please don’t let them really call!”? Or maybe you have told someone, “If there is anything I can do for you,” and hoped they wouldn’t take you up on the offer. When they DID, you griped and groaned (at least secretly) because you had to make good on your promise. I’m afraid we are all guilty of some form of this response at one time or another.
When someone makes some form of these statements to me, I generally discard their comments. I assume that the person who made this offer was providing “lip service” and walked away feeling like, “My work is done here… I’m off the hook!” However, there are a few people I know who say this and mean it. I have seen their faith in action. When they tell me they are ready and willing to help me, I know they truly are! Do you know people like this? I hope so!
So what can you do if you are one of these people who “talk the talk” and don’t “walk the walk?” Start by making sincere offers to help others. Say…“Can I give you a ride… cook you a meal or go through a drive-thru and pick up lunch…come over and visit with you for a while (as you recuperate or because you are lonely)…help you with your house work or yard work… serve in XYZ ministry at church?” (You fill in the blanks!) Think of concrete offers to make… and stand behind them. As your reputation grows for keeping your word and your “works of faith,” people will begin to trust that you mean it when you offer to do something for them.
By the same token, James reminds us in this scripture passage that we cannot say we trust God to care for us and then “trouble our troubles” to death! We cannot ask God to help us with such-and-such and then tell everyone we meet how worried we are about this situation. It is one thing to say, “Would you join me in prayer over a concern”… believing that God is listening and will handle the situation. It is quite another to ask others to pray out of fear and apprehension that your prayers are not sufficient on their own merits!
On his Facebook page, Pastor Rick Warren (Saddleback Church – author of The Purpose Driven Life) said…” Every time you make a bad choice, it becomes harder to make a good one.” Today, start making good choices… faith-filled choices that bring you the peace and joy of a complete relationship with Jesus Christ. Don’t just offer Him “lip service”. Go “all in” with your mindset and your acts of faith!
How “fruitful in works” is your relationship with Jesus? Is it time for an attitude adjustment? Isn’t today a good time to begin?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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