Day 6: James 2:14-26
We all live within the incredible reality that Jesus paid the price for our sins, He justified us before God and made us righteous in His sight. And it is only through what Jesus did for us on the cross that we are saved. It is through His abundant grace, which – though unmerited – is poured out freely on all who call upon Him, and not through our own efforts that we can enter into a relationship with God.
We know that we don’t need to do good works in order to receive salvation. And yet these verses in James 2 speak over and again about the need for works.
‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?’ (v14)
‘Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (v17)
Referring back to the Old Testament account of Abraham, James writes…
‘…his faith was made complete by what he did’ (v20)
Abraham was a man of great faith in God, and we know this because it was borne out in his life and deeds. If his willingness to trust in God as he led his extended family into new territories was a suggestion of his level of faith; if his willingness to believe that in his old age he would become a father and eventually have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky was yet further evidence; then the definitive confirmation came through his obedience to God’s request that he slay his young son. Thankfully God intervened just before the deed could be done but by this point the evidence was on display – Abraham didn’t just have faith, but a living faith.
Not just a faith of words, or empty promises, or hollow gestures but of a real, raw and often painful determination to follow where God leads.
Our faith in God will continually lead us into places of opportunity and into places of challenge. And when faced with new opportunities or new challenges, will we be ready to put our faith into action. Will our faith live or die in those seasons?
Will we offer just words, or action?
Let’s allow this particular season we’re living through right now to become one in which our faith in God moves from just being something we say we have, to being something we live out through all that we do.
Ps Paul Swindell
Worship Pastor