Wednesday, Spetember 19, 2018

What good is it for someone to believe that hard work leads to prosperity if they are not willing to work hard? What benefit is it for someone to believe that exercise leads to a better quality of life if they are not willing to exercise? And, what good is it for someone to believe the word of God if they are not willing to apply it? Whatever a person believes is worthless unless they are willing to apply it.

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. – James 2:15-17 NIV

Suppose someone comes to you with a genuine need and you honestly believe that something should be done to help this person. You then decide to pray for them and continue on your merry way. What good is that? It is not that we are supposed to solve everyone’s needs; the point is that if we are aware of the need and feel a genuine concern, then we should pray but also do something about it.

Faith alone is never enough. In order for a person’s faith to come alive it needs to be accompanied by actions. James, the brother of Jesus, tells us that there are two types of faith, living faith and dead faith. Faith that is active or inactive whether applied or not applied. Faith that is not applied is worthless it is dead.

The world is full of people who believe the right things but whose faith is dead because of the lack of application. Worst however is the fact that the church is full of people who believe God’s word but have chosen to not apply it. What brings a person’s faith to life is not what they believe, it is their willingness to apply what they believe. This is extremely important, because it is through the application of our faith that God chooses to act on our behalf and to preserve our lives, our spiritual and physical health, our finances, and all of our relationships. It is not a result of what we believe, it is a result of us applying what we believe. It is not enough to believe, we need to activate our faith and practice what we believe.