A life of faith in Jesus Christ should result in a life of fruitfulness for Jesus Christ! Let me challenge you with something which smacked me in the face, again, recently. Go and read James 2:14-26 then come back!
You better have read it, it takes 2 minutes!
In this passage James nail us with the challenge that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (James 2:17). The whole passage is challenging, but I want to draw our attention to verses 20-22.
“20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
I love how blunt James is, I wonder whether Mr T got his famous sayings from verse 20!
What does James do here? He focusses us on the account of Abraham and Isaac from Genesis 22. He goes on, in verse 22, to make us see that Abrahams FAITH and his ACTIONS were working together.
He uses the greek word ‘sunergeo’, where the roots of our word synergy lie. There should be a synergy, a working together, between what I believe and what I do. Too often there is a separation where there should be a synergy! What I believe about God, myself, other people must work in synergy with how I behave towards them. On a daily basis my faith must be informing and working with my actions and activities.
He summarises in verse 22 and says that Abraham’s faith was made complete by what he did! The actions of Abraham were the goal, the completion, the maturity of his faith. How often do we go about day to day with an incomplete faith? We can so easily forget that there is a synergy between my faith and my actions and God is looking for us to complete our faith through our actions! This is a daily challenge. Take a minute to answer these questions, then post in the comment section!
What is God asking you to do today, to complete your faith?
What do I need to let go off/pick up in obedience to God today?
Just wanted to say I have been enjoying these blogs and challenged as well. Faith for me is a difficult one. saying I believe in God is easy but actually putting it into action is much harder.