Faith and Deeds
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ...."
I love this passage, and am drawn closer to it since recently writing about salvation. I make a point to say our lives actually begin after salvation. I sat on my salvation, rather than take the new life and grow with it!! For a time after planting, yet a while before harvesting....perhaps we can grow and seek and prepare for our works and deeds. Will these works and deeds save us and get us to heaven? No, there is only one way through Jesus our precious Savior. But I tell you, that as I spent so many years with my faith and doing absolutely nothing with it, I may as well have been in a coma. I had life, or did I? There was no evidence of it.
"...Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead........"
Zero activity in a new life must be one of the saddest things to our God. For we know the truth, and choose not to feast on as much as we possibly can, to grow and work in the Kingdom of God. What better testimony is there? If I call myself a christian, yet I do nothing to grow, serve and honor God; what must the unsaved think? They may think what is the difference between their lives and mine. But if I take my salvation and feed on the word of God, seek His face and serve others with love; perhaps others might desire this life that is set apart by Christ.
"...But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God, Good! Even the demons believe that ---and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone....."
One way to make a better name for Christianity is to show myself as a workman approved by God, and do unto others; and take care of the widows and children and so on and so on. God did not give me life and light to stay inside myself unchanged. God wants my life to be abundantly full so that I might shine brightly for him and serve others...for I know every person, saved and unsaved, is a child of God. It is my privilege to show the unsaved how differently their lives "and future" will most certainly be with the unfailing belief in Jesus as their savior. My actions are evidence and testimony to my belief - and closing argument to the jury of unbelievers.
"..In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead..."
My faith is made complete, by my life transformed and ever growing in God's kingdom. My journey with God is personal - but evident in my actions, words and deeds. What should I be "doing" with my faith now? A lot more than I do, that's for sure. But, thank goodness we all have a loving and merciful God beside us as we grow.
Love to all, Mary
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