Dead men can't walk

This is going to be it for the week. I've decided that I'll be posting these on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays only. Otherwise, I'll get overwhelmed and it'll end up like last week... Sorry for that...

Now back to the point. 

Every day you demonstrate faith. You may not realize it, but you do. Just the act of getting out of bed is a step of faith. By just doing that, you're saying with your actions that you believe that the ground beneath your feet will hold you, that your legs won't give out on you, and you'll be able to support yourself and stay balanced. And that was just the act of getting out of bed. Talking in class while the teacher is talking shows others that you don't care what they are saying, and you're more important that them. 

We have a tremendous capacity for faith. Our actions are always showing others what we believe. James understood this, that's why he said this:

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

-James 2:26 ESV

We cannot separate the two. I cannot show faith without my works, and I cannot work without having faith. I can't stand without believing that the ground will be there. If I didn't believe anything, I'd be in a constant panic and I'd be too afraid to move.

You will always be witnessing either for or against Jesus by what you do. You may never have to say a word for others to know what you believe. I'm begging you, live in such a way that if others don't know God but know you that they may come to know God because they know you.

Steve...

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

-James 2:18 ESV

I kinda like that James is a smart-aleck. I don't know if you read it like that, so let me explain.

I imagine he has someone in mind, let's call him Steve, and Steve is always trying to argue with James. So james, knowing this, replies to Steve before he even said anything. He knows what he'll say, so he quotes him, and I imagine he would have said it like this, "But one of you smart guys (Steve) will say to me, 'I have faith and I have works and they work great separately. I don't think faith should ever be involved with work.'"

So, James, being the kind of guy he is immediately replies with, "Oh yeah, smart guy? You show me you believe in something without doing anything and I'll show you what I believe by doing it." James understood that you couldn't truly show others your faith passively. You had to be active. Teaching someone how to run and showing them are two different things. Both may believe that they're teaching correctly, but only one is showing that what they're teaching is actually real, that it's effective, and it has results. The other is full of hot air.

James follows up with this:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

-James 2:19 ESV

Let me rephrase. "You believe in God, Steve, and that's fine and dandy to say you do. But Even the demons believe in God and are able to talk about Him, but when they do, even they have a physical reaction to Him and shudder in fear!"

Don't be like Steve this week and be a Facebook Christian. Live out your Christianity!

Cheer up

I love Peanuts. Not the actual peanuts, but the comic strip. My favorite is Garfield, but Peanuts is a close second.

How often do you see something like this? Someone is in need physically, and all we do is give words? I feel bad for Snoopy. Charlie and Linus did nothing to help him. He isn't any warmer. He is still in the same place doing the same thing.

I think we often see someone in need and don't know how to help. God doesn't ask us to go beyond what we're capable of. People came up to John the Baptist and asked him what they should do.

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

-Luke 3:11 ESV

He's saying give what you can, do what you can, and show them with your actions that you care. Saying it doesn't help. Doing it does.

Pull the chute

I hate heights. I cannot for the life of me pinpoint where this fear originated from, just one day I felt this way.

When I was in middle school, my friend Alex's dad owned a Skydiving Ranch. I would go stay the night at his house, and the next day we'd work at the hangar. There were some weird guys working out there. There was a guy with purple hair named Marco, but everyone called him Polo, another guy with a green mohawk nicknamed Fetus, and a 7 foot tall canadian, but I forget his name. These guys would go skydiving everyday with a camera strapped to their helmet and they'd film people diving. After they finished, Alex and I would take the footage and edit it, then add music, and make a print of the cassette (I know, old school). I so badly wanted to go diving. I told my mom that when I turned 16, as long as I had her permission, Alex's dad said he'd take us diving.

But 16 rolled around, and I knew there was something wrong with jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. I wouldn't do it. I must have seen at least 100 jumps, and I knew the chutes wouldn't fail (they never had before). I knew what would happen. The plane would take off, I'd tandem jump, at a certain footage I'd pull the chute, and we'd land. But saying I know it and doing it are 2 different things. Saying I know it but not doing it still means I didn't do it.

And even if I did jump, no matter how many times I say the chute will save me won't make it true. I have to pull the chute.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

James 2:14 ESV

Our actions must always reflect our words because our words won't do anything.