“Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.”
- James 2:26
So many times in the bible, it is said that as long as we believe in God, accept and follow Jesus, then it is enough to receive the kingdom of God. What this passage in James tells us though is that faith is not merely an act of believing. For faith to mean something, we have to act in a way that truly follows Jesus. This involves doing good deeds and serving others. It is possible to have faith without performing good deeds, and possible to do good deeds without faith. Yet neither would be sufficient in the eyes of the Lord.
In the song, "God of Justice" by Tim Hughes, the lyrics say,
"We must go, live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken, we must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action, we must go".
To practice following Jesus, we must accompany our faith with taking action to do good works.
Reflection: What good deed can you do to put your faith into practice? When you do good deeds, do you do them for the right reasons? Pray to God to help strengthen your faith and to move you into action.
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Thank you, Karyn Lau, for your helpful Christian advice on Christian Calm Radio. Discover more Christian self-help articles and join Christian Calm Radio to listen to Christian instrumental music, Christian piano music channels, Christian worship music, Christian hymns, spirituals and Bible study audiobooks.