Focus: Action-Faith

Text: Jam.2:20

"But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"

It is said that actions speak louder than words. It costs little or nothing to say something, but to do something may cost you everything. In the same vein, faith is much more than what you say; it is really about what you do. The weightiness of faith is not seen or known by its wordiness but by its workings.

The Lord Jesus Christ says, "By their fruit you shall know them." He says again, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." James declares, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?.. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" (Jam.2:14,17).

Real faith goes beyond believing; real faith calls for action and character. Real faith requires walking with and working for God. Real faith is really risky. 

Real faith not only believes and talks about it; it obeys the Lord and acts on His word.

Faith pursues the agenda of God and things that are eternal. The writer of Hebrews defines faith as "the SUBSTANCE of things HOPED FOR and the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN." So faith deals with the future or the eternal and the invisible. Faith looks for a city whose builder and maker is God. Faith lives like a pilgrim and like a stranger on the earth. Faith is not unmindful of time but more mindful of eternity.

Faith as light shines, as eyes, it sees; as ears, it hears; as feet, it walks; as hands, it works and gives; as a tongue, it talks and sings; as knees, it kneels to pray and bows in worship to God; as wings, it flies; as a heart it beats for God; as a seed, it bears fruits; and as a force, it moves mountains. 

Faith is never lazy; it is dutiful. Faith believes the incredible, hears the inaudible, perceives the imperceptible, sees the invisible, touches the intangible, and achieves the impossible. Faith enables us to relate with God, represent Him in the world, and reflect Christ to those who come into contact with us. Faith is divinely enterprising, for faith without works is dead.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter