Faith is a Verb

Meditations for Ragamuffins

July 27, 2023

Faith is a Verb 

“So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”

James 2:17 

It has been said that God created us as human beings and we have turned into human doings. That is certainly true in our modern culture. With all the electronic gizmos we have available to us, seldom do we come to a place of rest, peace and quiet in our lives. I am convinced that in order for God to do His work of transforming our lives and forming Christ within us, we need ample periods where we respond to God’s call to us: “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10). However, there is a greater danger to our progress in transformation than not being still; it is being idle.

Jesus perfectly modeled a life balanced with times of prayer and meditation and times of action. This I believe is what James wanted the church to see in his powerful affirmation that the followers of Christ are called to action. Just as love is not a feeling but a verb, so also is faith. The evidence of God’s love is in His doing. He sent His son, He sends His Holy Spirit and His mercies never end; they are renewed every morning.  The evidence of our faith in God is in our doing: “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 2:18).

The words of James can be quite chilling: “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works” (James 2:26). If we are not careful, our adversary will use guilt and condemnation to steal our joy in serving Christ. As we press on to achieve the balance between rest and good works, we are always mindful that God loves us, unconditionally, just as we are. We want to glorify God and live in a manner that allows others to see Christ in our mortal flesh.

My Takeaway: The witness of Christ within us comes by grace, not an accumulation of good works. (See 2 Corinthians 4) I believe reaching a balance where our good works are evidence of God’s grace at work in our lives is more of an art than a skill to be learned, and thus requires a daily dialog with Christ.

Jesus never said following him would be easy.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.