11 Oct. 2010 - James 2:14-26

James 2:14-26

"Faith and deeds"

You see someone on the side of the road dressed in dirty rags and asking for money. You walk towards the man. He turns his face up and you say "I wish you well. keep warm, eat some food." and walk off... Does any good come of this? does the man gain any benefit from the encounter? James uses this illustration as a comparison for faith, in particular faith without deeds...

Now, let me clarify faith in this context. The dead faith that James speaks of is not a genuine faith. It is a faith where an individual knows everything about faith and God, but has not internalized it. It is not real to the person.

One sign that a person is alive is the fact that they move, that they do stuff. In the same way one of the signs of a living faith is the presence of works because of faith. You cannot say that one person has faith and another does the deeds; both aspects need to be employed by the same person. Demons have more faith than some people. Not only do they believe in God, they shudder - they do something about their belief in God. If that doesn't spur us into action, I don't think much will - we're being out-deeded by demons!

If you really want proof that we need deeds as part of our faith, then look at abraham. he was considered righteous for what he did, not just what he believed. he was about to enact his faith in one of the harshest ways possible - give up his only heir. his deeds grew out of his already vibrant faith. deeds aren't just something we tack on to our faith, it's the fruition, the outpouring of a vibrant faith. it's the sign of life in our faith. faith that does not result in deeds is, in fact, dead.

so, how do we liven up our faith? how do we create in ourselves the desire to work to help others? It starts with our perspectives of others. do we view them as objects or as individuals, each with their own struggles or problems? also, what is our willingness to do work? are we really willing to say "yeah, i'll do it." or are we still sitting back saying "i don't want to leave my comfort zone just yet."? Do we view our faith as something real or something intangible? does it move us or is it just a piece of the pie of our lives? these things all make differences in the way we live out our lives and our faith. where do we stand? self-examination anyone?