Faith and Deeds
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 0 comments

James 2:14-26

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 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?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 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.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
23 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.
24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25 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?
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

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Faith in this context means “trust and confidence in God”. In this passage, we see 2 clear instances of “faith and actions working together”. Firstly, Abraham (Genesis 22:1-19) and Secondly, Rahab (Joshua 2:1-22).

At times, we just feel that we are incapable, unable and of no use. Feelings of inferiority and even jealously may result from these negative feelings. I can assure you that we can seek our identity, security and assurance in God, which is only possible if we have faith. If we have that little faith as seen in Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6, it will spark off wonderful revelations.

On the other hand, some of us do have the faith, but we lack the action. This will most likely leads to unfruitfulness in the area that we have the faith in. Family, it is made extremely clear that without the action, faith is considered dead. You will find that the salvation of your family and friends depends wholly on you. Yes, we have to pray heartedly for it. But they will come to nought if we lack that very action of stepping out of your comfort zone into the battle zone of the world. Without this action, your faith and mine, is considered dead, unfruitful, and unproductive. No doubt, in the ministry, the process will take time and effort on your part. But, we have hope in God, that our actions combined with our faith, will touch and move the people around us, James 5:19-20.

Nothing can be accomplished without the action. Family, I pray that from today on, we’ll be constantly troubled, in the sense that we’ll never be in our comfort zone again. Let’s step into the battle zone, where the harvest is plentiful and the workers are but a few. Remember, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Bless ya.

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