Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 2/17/13 - Faith in Action

"What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works." James 2:14-26 NLT

For most of us when we new to recovery and exploring the possibility of a relationship with God we looked at the tangible evidence of what life without God was like and all the ways He had been working in us and in our situations before we were aware that it was Him. We looked at the self destructive nature of where we were headed and also at the the seemingly hopeless or even dangerous situations that seemed to unexplainably and inexplicably work themselves out. When we put the two together we became aware that not only was divine intervention necessary but it was already beginning to happen.

Now that this realization has led us through faith to recovery and a relationship with Christ, we need to understand that now God is looking for some tangible evidence from us. He's looking for our lives to demonstrate our faith. He's looking for our gratitude to reflect the way we live. Do we help those in need that we have the means to help or do we ignore them? Do we lovingly accept people where they are or do we judge and reject them? Are we willing to share the blessings and the freedom we've found or do we attempt to horde it for ourselves? Are people surprised and confused when we tell them we are in relationship with God?

Jesus said, "You will know my disciples by their fruit." The question we need to ask ourselves is, "Are we bearing any and is it good to eat?" Does your life show an example of your faith?