James 2:18-19
But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me youe faith apart from your works, and and i will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe- and shudder!
God let me behold your glory in this section of James. Fill me with your Spirit I plead. Otherwise my time here will continue to affect my day minimally. Thanks in advance, Amen.
So when we think about faith and works, there is a triad with three directions we tend towards.
1. Legalistic hearts going through mechanical motions in order to feel accomplished
2. Licentious in saying God's grace is quick to wash away sins; who cares in the end, God's got this covered
3. I love you Father, and thank you for giving us commands that protect us.
The first thing that pops in my mind is church attendance and frequency of time spent in prayer or with God. Time around others tends to be going through motions, and time when no one is directly affected tends towards laziness.
Both of these things are dangerous, because they test and reveal what the thing I call 'faith' really is. James isn't dealing with people that do stuff with the wrong motivation, but people that say they believe something, and do something else. This is a very interesting phenomenon. If you truly believe a stock is going to perform well, your actions with extra money in the bank will back up your statement as it is invested. So what goes on when we understand something should be good for us, but act in a way that is contrary to our understanding?
At this point, one is probably living in fear, doubt or apathy, or a combination of them. Fear that it might not be true or they are missing something greater, doubt that this is real or a dead heart that doesn't care much for what's going on anyways.
Father, this is truly frightening in thinking how dysfunctional my life is; living for temporary flares of entertainment, just hanging out, building a social resume blah blah blah. Help me to do these things intentionally, and grow my heart for real people that need real faith in you to be saved from separation from your Wild Beauty. What a tragedy that would be. So change the fact that I don't feel this would be a tragedy when I'm with people at work and hanging out with neighbors and family members. Increase my intentionality in general and help me from being a complete product of my environment. Love you, Benny.
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