What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” James 2:14-18
Tertullian, a
second-century church leader, is credited with the saying that the blood
of martyrs is the seed of the church.
In that analogy it is simple to squeeze out a corollary, consistent with
apostle James’ caution: unplanted
seeds of faith will produce almost nothing. I say “almost” because there is
one result, a false sense of security for those looking for an easier, quieter,
less-troublesome brand of faith that requires little. That unplanted faith seed becomes an empty pot
of toxic wishes, instead of a harvest of blessing for untold millions of
faith-starved people today.
The apostle was concerned
with warning his flock that wishes, dreams, hopes, and plans, are only wisps of
smoke if there are no good deeds that come forth in the form of blessing
others. Is it good to pray for the
homeless without doing something about a mother and kids sleeping in a storm
drain?
Does it make sense
to hope for the gun violence to go away, but never support positive measures
for gun safety? Can any good come from a
proud, patriotic feeling you get without willingness to stand against the
enemies of freedom?
A popular song when
I was in high school about one girl’s advice to all others about “wishing and
hoping” they could get that special guy, echos, somewhat, that which James
wrote to his flock about planting genuine faith seeds:
Wishin' and hopin'
and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of his charms
That won't get you into his arms
Just wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' his kisses will start
That won't get you into his heart
So if you're lookin' to find love you can share
All you gotta do is
Hold him and kiss him and love him
And show him that you care©
Care is the fuel James said to pour on the sparks of revival
and transformation. Every generation
since the Garden of Eden has craved being cared-for, knowing that they matter, that
someone really notices, and is willing to listen.
For You Today
Have you encountered someone that’s a little
rough around the edges? If you’ve prayed
for that person – good. If you’ve asked
God to use you to strengthen that person’s relationship with the Lord – great! You have prepared the ground, and are holding
the seed of care in your hand. You stand
on the threshold of actually planting that seed. Let your faith be alive and growing.
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts on Rocky Road Devotions.
To
dig deeper into this topic or Scripture text:
Faith and Works and Picking Up the Trowel
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
