Faithfulness

“What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? … Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead … For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:14,17,26). 

This section of James requires an extended introduction. In 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses hoping to stir up an academic debate regarding a decree for indulgences for the funding of building St Peter’s Basilica. With the recent invention of the printing press, Luther’s 95 theses spread like wildfire throughout Europe. Luther pushed for reform against indulgences and emphasized Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them..” We are saved by grace alone, but this can lead to a slight misunderstanding of what salvation looks like as a package of justification and sanctification. The word for faith here is the Greek word pistis.  Pistis is used throughout the Bible with a range of meanings from belief, a purely immaterial thing, to faithfulness, more of a doing thing. The book of Ephensians is part of Paul’s writings. Paul uses faith to mean more faithfulness, belief and obedience together, and works to mean more the works of the law as in trying to obtain salvation by keeping the law. This is because of Paul’s background as a Jewish Pharisee and Theologian and communicating the gospel message to a divided, Jew, Gentile audience. James uses faith and works to mean belief and action. Luther’s 3rd thesis of the 95 theses says, “such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.” So it seems like Luther would agree with James that faith without works is dead. The only place in the Bible where the phrase “faith alone” is found is here in James 2:24, “a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Faith and works are a package deal, you can’t take one without taking the other. After that long introduction, here is our devotional.

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Good intentions are a good start, but by themselves, they don’t produce anything. We have to actually do the good things we want to get done. Thinking about all the ways we can serve God doesn’t amount to anything until we actually start serving God. We cannot fill our bellies with the food we think about eating.

Life is an uphill journey; if you aren’t going forward, you will coast down hill, backwards.

We have to move forwards with our life or we will start moving backwards. The thermodynamic law of entropy teaches that systems tend to move towards a lower state of energy. This holds true for physical systems and spiritual systems. If we don’t stoke the fires of excitement about our spiritual journey, our fire will die out and turn to a low state of energy. It takes intentional hard work to keep energy growing in our spiritual system. 

God can't steer a parked car.

While God can cause an earthquake or tornado to pick up and move our car, He waits patiently for us to turn on our engines. God wants to steer our car rather than just move it. He wants to join us in our journey, but He doesn’t want to rip the steering wheel out of our hands. He waits for us to make the decision to start the car and hand the wheel of our life over to Him. God wants us to be faithful - to not just believe He can drive our car, but to actually engage in the process of following His direction.