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Show Me Your Faith

             But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

            Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:18-19)

 

            Today’s passage has two points. One touches on a recurrent theme for me – the meaning of faith. The other deals more with something I encountered recently.  First, the personal note. As I walked this morning, I told God that I wanted to be faithful today. I want to trust Him. I want to say that I trust Him. But I know that the slightest stress will have me worrying, reacting, and generally not showing the faith I want to show. And even if I show faith, that will only lead to pride on my part. I won. I had faith!

            Some people have commented that it doesn’t matter what we believe. What matters is what we do. I’ve argued against this many times, but this morning, I agree – sort of. It’s not that it doesn’t matter what we believe, but it doesn’t matter how we feel. It doesn’t matter if I feel afraid, so l am acting per my beliefs. What we believe produces our actions. So if I can control my behavior, or choose to act in faith, the fact that my emotions are throwing a temper tantrum doesn’t matter.

            The second issue involves the belief that there is one God. Someone mentioned this yesterday, and it’s more common than I think we realize.  Lots of people who believe in any gods at all believe in one God. But the reality of believing that there is one God doesn’t mean one believes in a real God, and it doesn’t tell us anything about what we believe about that one God.  We could believe in a god entirely unlike the true and living God. It's unsafe to assume we have the right one just because we only have one.

            As James points out, the demons believe there is only one God. They’ve rejected Him, but they know He exists, and they know enough to fear Him. They know they’re going to be judged and their work now is fueled by that knowledge. If you’re going to be damned as a liar, you may as well be damned as a murderer.

 

 

 

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