To Encourage You

James 2:14-16 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Do you know that two people can say exactly the same words and mean totally different things by what they say? One example is the use of the word “love.” The word can be used to mean romantic love, the love of a friend, or the love of Jesus demonstrated when He gave His life for us on the cross. The meaning is determined by its context, and so when we see the phrase that is bandied about so much today, that “love is love,” our first question should be, what on earth does the person that said that mean?

Another word that is like this is the word “faith.” In the passage above from James 2, we are told that “faith” is a word that is used very loosely by some.  He talks about a faith that saves (one could call it a “living” faith) and compares it to something called “dead faith.”  The difference between the two is its impact on our lives.  True faith, the faith that brings salvation, is described in the following way in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  In other words, the faith that saves is a faith that loves and trusts God and that love and trust is demonstrated by the way one lives. 

James’ example of this in the passage above is the issue of how we treat a brother or sister in need.  We can say nice things to them (because we are such good people, at least in our own eyes) but if we have the means to help them and we don’t, we demonstrate that our words are meaningless and our faith is not alive.  James says that the “faith” that begins and ends with our words is equivalent to the “faith” of the demons, of all things. He tells those with dead faith, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19) (Which is one step further that some people who say they “believe” would go). 

So, what about your “faith” and what about mine?  Is it a living faith or is it dead?  We can use the word and mean different things, for just as not all “love” is true love, not all “faith” is the real and living thing that God is talking about when he speaks of it in His Word.