5×5×5 Bible Plan
Read: James 2
Meditation: James 2:14,17
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? … Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Shift Your Focus… Let me offer my translation of what James is saying: “Prove your faith by living it out, because faith without action is no faith at all!”
Church-goers in our culture really need to listen up to James’ words, because there’s a great deal of belief that’s not matched by behavior these days. Our talk is not commensurate with our walk. As James would say, there’s an unfortunate disconnect between faith and action. And this disconnect is the source of much unhappiness, frustration, and even stress for believers.
For instances, we value generosity, but hoard our wealth. We believe in God, but decreasingly participate in worship. We tout the sanctity of marriage and family values, yet the divorce rate is skyrocketing. We sing of peace on earth, yet there’s more hostility in our homes than ever.
Sociologists refer to this disconnect between what we say we believe and how we actually live as incongruent values. In chapter 1, James spelled out the sad consequences of living with these incongruent values:
- Self-deception: “…and so deceive yourselves.” (James 2:22)
- Dissatisfaction: “…like the man who looks at his face in the mirror…and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 2:23)
- Bondage: “…the law that gives freedom…” (James 2:25)
- Spiritual Poverty: He won’t be “blessed in what he does.” (James 2:25)
- Irrelevance: “…his religion is worthless.” (James 2:26)
What James is describing is a pointless faith; a lot of knowledge but little implementation. That’s a big problem in the church today. We’re like Dead Sea saints: A lot of inflow but no outflow. And like the real Dead Sea, the result is a stagnant, stinky body of water. Nothing is more disgusting to God and dissatisfying to people who live it than dead faith…an inflow of God’s riches with little or no outflow.
Authentic, saving, God-pleasing faith is not just something you say or feel or believe, it is something you do! Now just to be clear, our faith is not determined by what we do. But it is demonstrated by what we do. Faith is taking what you know to be true, what is of utmost and eternal value to you, and living it out in every fiber of your existence.
When you offer that kind of life of faith to God, he says to you, “you will be accepted and pleasing to me…and I will bless you life!” (James 1:25-27)
“Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works.” ~Martin Luther
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