Check your Vitals

This scripture has been on my heart a lot, especially this time of year. We don't have to look far to find another person who is struggling. We can find families all around the neighborhood who are facing illnesses, bringing new babies into their homes, struggling to pay the bills, or just plain old worn out. There are grandparents raising grandchildren, weary single parents running children here and there and a host of brokenhearted souls at every turn.

We are busy, I get that. But are we too busy to see the needs? Is our agenda really more important than another's pain? I don't think so. And today it is my prayer that you will stop, along with me, and check the vitals on your faith life. Because as James tells us, Faith without works is a dead faith. Is your pulse faint? Friend, breathe new life into your walk with the Lord, by truly being his hands and feet!

Faith and Deeds  James 2

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 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. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[e] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.