Liz’s Morning Devotional based upon Upper Room
August 1, 2021
Read James 2:14-24
14 My brothers and sisters, what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it? Claiming to have faith can’t save anyone, can it? 15 Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat. 16 What if one of you said, “Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!”? What good is it if you don’t actually give them what their body needs? 17 In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity. 18 Someone might claim, “You have faith and I have action.” But how can I see your faith apart from your actions? Instead, I’ll show you my faith by putting it into practice in faithful action. 19 It’s good that you believe that God is one. Ha! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble with fear. 20 Are you so slow? Do you need to be shown that faith without actions has no value at all? 21 What about Abraham, our father? Wasn’t he shown to be righteous through his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 See, his faith was at work along with his actions. In fact, his faith was made complete by his faithful actions. 23 So the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and God regarded him as righteous. What is more, Abraham was called God’s friend. 24 So you see that a person is shown to be righteous through faithful actions and not through faith alone.
Good Morning! This is the Day that the Lord Has Made!
Imagine the scenario at the beginning of this passage. I believe that most of us would respond quickly to such obvious needs, but what if the person in need didn’t look like us. Would we help or would we turn and walk in a different direction? How can we pretend that we can step out in faith to meet the spiritual needs of others when we can’t be sure that we wouldn’t avoid someone in need because they scared us?
I would like to offer another example that is near and dear to my heart. We have children arrive at school every day with extreme physical and emotional needs. They are hungry, they are in pain, they are neglected. Yet, they arrive at school and we want them to learn today’s objective. Slowly, the world of education is learning that we must meet their other needs first so that they will be ready to learn. For most, it is not that they want to be a problem or that they don’t want to learn, they just have more pressing things to attend to first.
As Christians, we are called to be faithful servants and share the word of God to the ends of the earth. We are not to store our faith inside and wait until we need it most to use it. Just as with all of the blessings that God has given us when we step out into the world in true faith, we will not be alone. Whenever we need the strength and power that our faith provides, we will find that we can accomplish whatever the situation requires. If only we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Stepping out in faith is scary because we like to be in control, we want to know what is going to happen. True faith means that we trust God to be in control and we will take that step blindly because we know in whom we have believed.
I know not why God’s wondrous grace To me, He hath made known, Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love Redeemed me for His own.
Refrain: But “I know Whom I have believed, And am persuaded that He is able To keep that which I’ve committed Unto Him against that day.”
Loving God, Thank You for loving us. We struggle to truly believe when we are confronted with unknown situations. Help us to exhibit the faith of Abraham and turn our lives over to you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: Putting my faith into action is my daily work.
Jesus said, “Feed My Sheep!” Pastor Liz
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