Thursday, July 7, 2016
You say you
have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble
in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is
useless? Don’t you remember
that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he
offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith
and his actions worked together. His
actions made his faith complete.
James
2:19-22(NLT)
If you’ve ever ordered something online you have (according
to James) done what Abraham did. No, Abe
didn’t have a laptop, Google, or Amazon account. But his actions consummated his faith.
When you purchased that toaster online you had to click
on the “check-out” icon. This action
completed your desire (or faith) to purchase the item. Well…almost!
You still had to enter your credit card, verify your billing and
shipping address, turn-down sixteen special one-time-only offers
that came with your purchase, which, when properly navigated finally brought
you to that blessed SUBMIT ORDER button!
You had faith…your actions clicked on all the deed-icons…and
then waited forty days and forty dark nights in the ark of UPS angst until one
day that package actually arrived at your front door!
(Who said faith was simple? Or the internet?)
In psychological language Abraham was congruent.
Faith, down deep in Abraham’s inner
being, to possess that connection with JHWH, which he so longed-for, demanded
that nothing…nothing at all be held back from God’s pleasure; this included the
life of God’s son-of-promise, Isaac.
Until he placed that child on the altar, Abraham’s
faith was only an embryonic desire. It
was action
consistent with his deeply-held belief which made faith more reality than just a
feeling within; action made faith alive.
On my first deep-sea fishing excursion ever it was my
Uncle Marlen who helped me bait the hook.
There was something about sticking the hook into that very tiny bait-fish
that made me squeamish, so my Uncle did the deed for me. He was using his faith; I was still only a
watcher. After the bait was in place, he
handed the line back to me and said: OK…you’re ready now. The blank stare covering my face brought his
next dose of reality; he said: You
can drop that line in the water, boy…or you can sit there with a bait fish in
your lap until we get back home; your choice!
And that’s the issue with faith, isn’t it?
It’s always your choice.
For You Today
Whether it’s fishing, finances or getting that flat
tire fixed, wishing, hoping, planning, dreaming and waiting are all part
of faith…but it’s all pretty much dead unless you are willing to get involved.
So…what’s holding you back?
Go to VIDEO
[i] Title Image:
By Illustrators
of Henry Davenport Northrop’s 1894 Treasures of the Bible [Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
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