Read James 2:14-17
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17)
Note that the person involved claims to have faith. James now questions whether this claim can be a genuine one if it does not produce good deeds.
As an example of this, the person who claims to have faith is brought in touch with someone who is ‘down and out’. He says to this poor man or woman, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed.” (2:16). However, he does nothing to meet the physical needs of the sufferer. He merely offers words of synthetic sympathy! “…..what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (2:17)
James offers only one example – failure to show mercy to someone in great need. Many other examples can be given of false claims to faith. Some people, when filling in a form, put down their religion as ‘Christian’ because they were baptized as infants, but as adults they have no personal relationship with Jesus Christ and only very rarely attend church services.
However we must not believe that this passage provides us with an excuse to start pointing a finger at some of our fellow church members and to think, and possibly say, “he or she cannot be a genuine Christian because …….”. Let us leave judgment to God!
In order that my own faith should be accompanied by deeds, God had to lead me to India (to put our daughter, Joanna, into Hebron School at Ootacamund) in 1978. There, at the age of 52, I saw abject poverty for the first time and realized how little my thoughts and actions had been towards meeting both the needs and the rights of the poor and marginalized. Hence, on returning home, my involvement in Malaysian CARE.
May our claim to have faith be genuine!
This meditation is extracted from “Transformation from Belief to Behaviour: 39 Lenten Meditations on the Letter of James” by Peter Young and used with permission by the author. It may be used solely for personal, noncommercial, and informational purposes. Republication or redistribution of this devotional is prohibited.
The Micah Mandate is a Christian-based public interest advocacy ministry that seeks a transformation of our nation through justice, mercy and humility.
