Scripture Reading: James 2:14-18
“But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”—James 2:18
Faith is that invisible force that causes us to trust, believe, and have confidence in something or someone. Faith replaces our fear with courage, our anxiety with peace, and our sadness with joy. In troubling times and choppy waters, faith keeps us afloat as it whispers we are victorious, we are overcomers, we are more than conquerors.
Beyond the peace and joy it brings, what does our faith do? Certainly it saves us. Through faith in Jesus, we have the gift of salvation and the promise of life eternal. Yet, today’s passage challenges us to look beyond what our faith does for us, to ask what it does for others? How is the world impacted by our faith? Just in case we become content with our saving faith, James makes an appeal to make our faith about more than ourselves. Our saving faith is to be a working faith also.
This does not mean we work to be saved. Paul makes that point abundantly clear: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Instead, James reminds us we work because we are saved. Faith in Christ, our love for Christ and the people of God should compel us to make a difference in our world. We should work because we are not satisfied with the condition of the world, even more because God is not satisfied with the condition of this world either.
A saving faith that is not a working faith is a selfish faith. It is a faith blind to the effects of hunger, homelessness, poverty, crime, prejudice, sickness, disease, pollution, injustice and more in our world. Perhaps worse, the selfish faith is one that witnesses all this and chooses not to make a difference.
James’ point is clear, faith saves you but that same faith should compel you to be compassionate, caring, and fruitful in the issues of the kingdom. It is a faith that seeks to be obedient and works to make a difference in the world. It is a faith that prompts us to care about the same things Jesus cares about, all that He created.
Beyond the peace and joy it brings, what does our faith do? Certainly it saves us. Through faith in Jesus, we have the gift of salvation and the promise of life eternal. Yet, today’s passage challenges us to look beyond what our faith does for us, to ask what it does for others? How is the world impacted by our faith? Just in case we become content with our saving faith, James makes an appeal to make our faith about more than ourselves. Our saving faith is to be a working faith also.
This does not mean we work to be saved. Paul makes that point abundantly clear: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Instead, James reminds us we work because we are saved. Faith in Christ, our love for Christ and the people of God should compel us to make a difference in our world. We should work because we are not satisfied with the condition of the world, even more because God is not satisfied with the condition of this world either.
A saving faith that is not a working faith is a selfish faith. It is a faith blind to the effects of hunger, homelessness, poverty, crime, prejudice, sickness, disease, pollution, injustice and more in our world. Perhaps worse, the selfish faith is one that witnesses all this and chooses not to make a difference.
James’ point is clear, faith saves you but that same faith should compel you to be compassionate, caring, and fruitful in the issues of the kingdom. It is a faith that seeks to be obedient and works to make a difference in the world. It is a faith that prompts us to care about the same things Jesus cares about, all that He created.
Question to Ponder: If our faith doesn’t make a difference in the world, what good is it?
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”—James 2:26
