What do you put your faith in? Do you have faith in material things or a job? Who do you put your faith in? Do you put your faith in your parents, spouse, children, or friends? How do you demonstrate your faith? Is your faith actionable? Is it alive? Or has your faith faded?
We often put our faith in things we can see and touch. It may be material things, such as our vehicle. Most of us go to our vehicle every morning and trust it will start. We may put faith in our jobs, believing they will always be there. We regularly put our faith in people.
I had put my faith in a job at one time. I thought that I could work that job until I retired. There was more than enough work to keep me busy for years. Then one day, I was unceremoniously fired. God had a different plan for me and, though I knew it, I rediscovered nothing in this world is guaranteed.
Yet, our faith must be an active faith. James tells us that faith, or belief, by itself is dead. If our faith does not cause us to do something, it is not as deep as we might like to believe. He gives the example of taking of someone in need. Helping the poor, homeless, or the hungry are certainly ways our faith can be put into action.
But helping others is not always based on faith. Sometimes we act out of compulsion and our wealth. We have extra and give to the poor. We feel compelled to help at the soup kitchen, because someone at church asked. James is saying our faith cannot come from our wealth. It must come from our trust in God to provide.
We are not fans of James writing what he wrote. We don’t want to hear we must put our faith into action. We like to say we believe but do nothing with it. Yet, Jesus tells us to go make disciples. He gave us a mission, which requires us to put our faith in Him into action. We need to listen for God speaking through his Holy Spirit to us and God using people around us to pose opportunities for us to put or faith into action.
I pray we all put our faith in Jesus Christ. I pray we listen for opportunities to put our faith into action. I pray each one of us will have an active faith that causes us to do the good works God has set aside for us. Put your faith in Jesus. Have an active faith. Go about doing the good works God has for you.
James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Marty Pressey 