14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? 17 So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Elise Le

When I used to work at Bankstown Hospital, I was surrounded by a melting pot of religions. I had colleagues who identified as Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu and many more. When I asked about what they believed, they mostly responded with “Oh, I’m Buddhist because my parents go to temple” or “I only go to church when it’s Christmas”. You may have come across someone like this – someone who identifies with a religion but their beliefs are not reflected in their everyday lives. For some, it seems easier to keep faith separate to the manner in which they conduct their lives.

In today’s passage, James emphasises that good deeds must flow out of our faith into our lives. Good deeds go hand in hand with our faith; the two cannot be separated. We might think to ourselves, “Well, I'm not like those other people you talked about. I go to church; I read my Bible and I pray”. These are all wonderful things and are given to us as a gift from God to strengthen us in faith and dependence on Him. But the good deeds James focuses on are particularly about actively loving and serving our brothers and sisters. James says that if we do not meet the needs of our brother or sister, if we don’t care about the vulnerable, then our faith is dead.

None of this changes the fact that we are saved by grace alone. We can never deserve or earn God’s love. It is because of the grace and love that has been shown to us through Jesus’ death that we can extend that grace and His love to others around us.

Sometimes at church, we may see the person who is sitting alone and think “Oh someone will come and talk to them,” or someone might tell us about a need and we think, “I couldn’t be bothered.” I too am naturally inclined to do the things that are convenient for me. But we should be convicted by the passage, to deeply care for others even when it might cost us our effort, time and money. Jesus loved and served us by giving his own life for us, and if we really do trust him, we will want to live out his love for the sake of others and the gospel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elise is one of our Ministry Apprentices.