Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead

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. James 2:14-17 NLT

This morning as I sat at my desk starting my day at work, I heard these verses come to life right before my ears. The colder weather has hit Central Florida these past few days and as someone came in for a bag lunch, Connie asked him if he had a warm place to stay. He said he did not and Connie went and got him a blanket. Connie could have said, “I’m sorry, we will pray for you,” but thanks to generous donations from the community and our church, we have blankets we can pass out to folks to help keep them warm during these days of winter.

Immediately I said thank You to God for providing this living inspiration to these verses right before me. I love it when God takes a scripture and shows it to me in His own way. Our Feeding the Hungry ministry helps bring James 2:14-17 to life. We don’t just tell folks we will pray for them and send them on their way, every time they come to our church during office hours, they are provided with a bag lunch and on Saturday afternoons, they are provided with a hot meal.

We all have areas in our lives where we can improve and help bring James 2 to life. What area is God calling you to step up your faith and your actions? Let’s focus on that this week.

Prayer

Thank You, Lord, for bringing scripture to life right before us. Thank You for the fact that we have the resources to help those who are not able to provide for themselves. We pray that You will guide us in other areas where we need to increase our faith and our deeds. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.