Love is something you do,
Love is something you do,
Not always something that you feel,
But it’s real.
Love is something you do,
Love is something you do,
When Jesus Christ is living in you.
(One of the first Jesus movement songs I learned.)
This next wisdom teaching from James addresses what happens in your life once you have faith in Jesus.
Some English translations use the word “works,” while the NIV I’m using here translates as “deeds.” Works can be used by some theologians to describe religious acts, say as within the Roman Catholic Church. Reading James, I think he means what the song says—how you act toward other people. (Note: I have read way too many “faith vs. works” books. And I hate false dichotomies.)
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
I have come across many people who think that everything is completed at the faith part. Say the “sinner’s prayer”, and all will be well. That idea is ancient, as James addresses.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
I somewhat unwillingly bring Paul into this discussion. But check out his ultimate spiritual formation document—the Letter to the Romans. He follows the discussions of faith and grace with several chapters discussing—you guessed it—what follows. If you have the spirit of God within you, you will live a life as he describes concluding his letter.
James even provides two examples from his faith tradition to prove his point—Abraham and Rahab.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father 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 considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
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.
If you have faith, what have you done today, small though it may have been, that reveals your faith?
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