Doing Good

We may not need to do anything to earn God's grace, but what we do shows others what we believe.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. - James 2:14-18

When it comes to leaders in the early Church, James was one of the toughest.

He expected the followers of Jesus to be so committed to his teachings, that they would put their faith into action, believing it was required of us to do good.

Jesus did good for people, from curing diseases to feeding the hungry, but he was not just giving us examples to follow.  He was trying to show us we needed to change our attitude about one another.

If God's Kingdom has come to reclaim this world, which is what Jesus talked about, then we need to act like heirs of that kingdom.  We need to want to help one another out of love for one another, not for future or present reward.

James says that faith, without doing the works of faith is dead.  There is no better way to live than to live out our faith through our actions. 

If we believe that, we choose a life of service and if we don't, we focus on ourselves.

It's that simple. 

We can tell who truly believes by what they do with their faith.

So, if we want to follow Jesus, and claim our inheritance, we need to change our attitude.  We need to be grateful for what we have, and eager to share with all who need.

Is that too hard?

More to come...