Stress Test Devotional May 18
May 18, 2024
JAMES 2:14-20 | What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren?
Faith needn’t be anxious and frenetic, but faith does work! James raises and addresses the possibility that Christians may avoid work, claiming that since they are justified and made right with God through faith, their work for God is irrelevant. He resists this distortion by insisting that genuine faith always issues in a desire to please God through our actions and a real love for others.
I like to distinguish three kinds of belief, Our public beliefs, or reputation, which is what we want others to think we believe. Our private beliefs—what we think we believe about God and life. Then finally, the actual beliefs that guide our behavior. James is pointing out that genuine faith requires that our beliefs shape our actions—otherwise, we become hypocrites. For example, we may say we believe in forgiveness, and even think to ourselves that we do, but if we are cruel and judgmental in our behavior, do we really believe in forgiveness?
Does this distraction help you understand James’ teaching on faith and works?
