Friday Reading: James 2:14-20
Key Verse: James 2:20
20 But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Devotion:
When we see successful advertisements for things like sports equipment that thrive on simple saying like “just do it” we are told that it is ok to “just do it” because that way you will succeed. But not everything is right to just go out and do it because many things are contrary or against God’s laws. We do like to see how far we can stretch things sometimes but that is not the best thing to do – we will either get caught out because we fall, or we will push the boundaries a bit far and encourage others to do things against God’s law.
But let’s look at the positive side of this. How can we turn our negative way of seeing things into something positive that we can use to encourage others too? To make sure that we are able to join Christ in heaven His commandment to us is simple in that we have to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He came to die for our sins. But what if we just stop there? What if we just believe in our hearts but don’t do anything after that? I suppose that should be about as good as burying your savings in a hole in the ground – you know that it is safe but it’s doing absolutely no good for anyone!
Christ wants us to be part of His life, to live our lives with Him instead of in spite of Him. He wants us to be able to demonstrate our love for Him because by doing that we are able to grow stronger in Him every day. If we buy the best sports equipment and put it in the cupboard, we have achieved nothing. But if we take that equipment and go out and use it, we will begin to grow; we will be gaining in more ways than one from what we go out and do. Christ wants us to be active Christians, living our lives for Him, showing others that we love Him, taking Him with us everywhere. Without “doing” it, we are as good as a pair of sneakers stuck on the shelf forever.
Points to Ponder:
Are you an active person?
Are you active for Christ?