Faith without Works
Faith without works is a bit like breathing without oxygen.
It just doesn’t happen that way.
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26 NKJV
DEATH
When my parents each passed away there was no doubt in my mind that they were gone.
Life had been in them and now it was absent.
The twinkle in the eye, the knowing glance, the breath, the heartbeat, the essence of life itself was gone.
They were simply empty of their spirit.
I knew they were gone.
Likewise, our verse tells us that as the body without the spirit is dead so our faith is dead without works.
A LIVING FAITH OR A DEAD FAITH
A person who says they have faith in God, yet never does anything motivated by that faith, is without faith.
Their faith is dead.
There is no sharing Jesus with their neighbor.
No concern springs up when another is in need.
If there is activity, that professed believer is merely going about his own concerns.
No one came to help someone else.
No prayer life, no reaching out, no teaching a Bible class, or helping a lonely shut-in happened.
The believer didn’t bring a meal to the elderly.
The Christian didn’t visit the hospital or the prison.
No encouraging words were written nor any Bibles given away.
In fact, living to oneself and for one’s own pleasure, is the order of the day.
TO BE ALIVE IS TO REACH OUT
Outreach has often died in our churches.
In fact, dead is the main word here.
It is all we see when we merely profess faith and follow it up with NOTHING.
That so-called faith is dead.
Faith without works is not faith at all.
WITH GOD
We could leave it at that.
OR we could ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit and pray that infilling carry us into adventures of service for Him every day of our lives.
The choice once again is yours.