Faith
Standing there quietly, staring, many thoughts go through my mind. Thoughts of what was, what great memories I have, and so much love, oh, so much love!
We’ve all been there, looking down into the casket of a loved one. We know they are not there, we can feel the palpable absence. The body remains in front of us, the earthly tent that once contained the spirit and soul of that precious person. But that body is now lifeless, termed DEAD. Pretty sobering, isn’t it?
James 2:26 talks about that very thing: “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” Our faith with no works is compared to a dead person! Ouch!
“14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that [r]God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:14-26
All our words of faith are empty words if they are not backed up by doing good works. Works don’t save us, they are the evidence of the faith in us because it is not something we keep to ourselves. Faith should motivate us to serve, to sacrifice, to love, to pray, to give (and not just money).
What keeps us from doing good works? Do you look at your planner and find it filled with a lot of activity, but not serving? Is it something you can actually pencil in? We can each look back at the end of the day and say, “TOMORROW, I will ________” and then repeat the same cycle. I find myself doing that more often than I’d like to admit. What DID I accomplish today? Lots of busyness, but was any of it “good works”?
What does it mean to “do good works”? Good question! Hard to answer, yet not so hard. Maybe it’s encouraging someone, maybe it’s giving them your time, or meeting a need. Maybe it’s being a prayer warrior, someone that can be depended on to bring every need before the throne of grace. It could also include being the bell-ringer outside the stores at Christmas…. My personal definition of “good works” is getting outside of myself on behalf of someone else, for His glory.
I’d thought about writing a Christmas message earlier in December, then a New Year’s message, and then I read this passage. It can be viewed as a New Year’s challenge, since we think of starting new things when we put up a new calendar. But it is more about “this is the first day of the rest of our life,” when we make this a lifestyle change. Instead of living life for “me” or “my kids” or “my career” or “my ministry,” we live for Christ as Christ did, serving others. Imitate HIM.
So as we go into 2022, may we be people marked with good works, the evidence of the faith that is within us. It is a faith that is ALIVE. To Him be the glory!
