GraceCreates

By Jon Walker
 
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? … In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14, 17 (NIV)
 
Consider this paraphrase of James 2:14,17 (adapted from NLT) –
 
‘Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you love your spouse if you don’t prove it by the way you treat your spouse? That kind of impersonal love doesn’t make your relationship a marriage. A book-learned love that doesn’t show up as an open-armed, hands-on love is no love at all.’
 
I use this example because it helps us see the holy union of faith and works. I can say I love my spouse, but unless I evidence “good works” within my marriage, it’s hard to spot the love. Yet; it’s also possible for me to go through the motions of “good works,” even if I have little love for my spouse.

Either way, I’ve missed the point and veered from God’s clear and present plan:

• God fills you with his Holy Spirit – And his spirit energizes you to do good works. (Colossians 1:29)
• The Holy Spirit guides your good works – “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” (Colossians 1:28-29, NIV) Your good works emerge from your spirit-connection to God, not independent of God’s power and love.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.