Dear Faith Family,
"The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse." (James 2:26)
What is faith? Is it an affirmation of the essence of God, an acknowledgment of what God is and what he does? Certainly, for faith to endure, to bring us to full maturity and our purposed end, faith must be built on a sure foundation. And there is no more certain foundation than the unchanging nature and purposes of God. Yet, as James' letter has revealed, there is more to faith than a knowledge of what is true.
Faith, as James describes it and as Dylan helped us see on Sunday, is a force of life. Faith, it seems, moves us through the daily stimuli of existing towards the telos, or perfection of life (1:4): to be "called a friend of God" (2:23).
Faith, as Dylan pointed out, is not a matter of perfection, but it is a means, a continually transforming journey through life towards Goodness. That is, unless our faith "is dead" (2:17) or spiritless. True faith, faith that "counts with God," it seems, is living, active, a "seemless unity of believing and doing."
James says that faith at work within us is more (not less) than right thinking or belief. Faith is right living. To try and separate the two is like trying to live without breathing. So, will you join me in taking the pulse on the work of faith in us this week? Here is how:
Read James 2:14-26
(Re)Listen or Watch(!) the Sermon
Reflect & Share
First with the Lord and then with your GC or a faith-filled friend:
In what ways is my faith "dead"?Where is faith spiriting my work?
What would a living faith at work in and through me look like tomorrow?
May there be a seamless unity of our believing and doing, a living faith at work within us.
Love you, faith family. God bless.