Works Challenge
What are you working at these days?
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. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. - James 2:14-26
I want to say something surprising here.
People want to work at their faith. They would rather volunteer to help feed the hungry, for example, than to donate money to a charity that is dedicated to feeding the poor.
Why is that?
You could argue that both are examples of works, but writing a check or using your credit card to make a donation is effortless. People would rather put some effort into it.
That's a good thing, right?
According to James it is. But for those of us that need to find funding for our ministries, it poses a challenge, albeit a good challenge. We have to make the work of our ministry more accessible.
By our works, we show our faith, so shouldn't we be coming up with many opportunities to work at it?
Isn't it more satisfying to say I delivered groceries and meals to a family in need today than to say I made a donation?
In my example, the donation is equivalent to the "Go in peace" comment James talks about. Even though it is much more helpful than kind words, it still fails to engage the soul in the work of the spirit, and that's what we long for.
So, my take away here is to provide more opportunities for people to come and help do the work of feeding the hungry, and not worry about the funding as much.
If we all do the work, then we can have faith that God will provide the rest.
More to come...