“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no DEEDS (ergon: a work or action)? 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. 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 (by what I do).” (James 2:14-20)
Simply hearing the Word isn’t the same as obeying it. If all you do is hear, without doing, you’re kidding yourself. You’re self-deceived. There must be something more. The important question is: What’s the “something more”? Is it just our self-wrought efforts? Or is there something distinctive in Christian obedience? According to James, the “something more” is looking in the right mirror and doing something about what you see. The right mirror is the law of liberty, what James also calls the Word of truth by which we’re born again. “…be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and IMMEDIATELY FORGETS what kind of man he was.” (James 1:22-24)
Remember this, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means CARING FOR orphans and widows in their distress and REFUSING TO LET THE WORLD CORRUPT YOU.” (James 1:27)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham