Why not you?
This week's magical Bible story is on James 2:14-17:
Sometimes there's a fairly big gap between talk and action. It's the difference between a press release and meaningful results. One of my pet peeves is when a politician or corporate spokesperson says "We take full responsibility for INSERT MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE OR CALLOUSLY NEGLIGENT ACT HERE." And then they do nothing, or offer some lame excuse as to why they screwed up epically. Nobody gets fired. No behavior changes. No reparations are paid to injured parties. Nobody goes to jail, or even admits guilt in a court room. Absolutely nothing happens except for the crocodile tears and a thirty second sound bite.
The thing is, we can be like that sometimes. It's not just that we do evil and then pretend to care only when we get caught, and only until people get distracted by something else and we're off the hook. We talk about believing in the right thing, and wanting to do the right thing, while actually doing nothing to make it happen. "Your call is important to us. Estimated wait time is four hours and thirty seven minutes."
Let's use the hypothetical example of someone who cares deeply about child literacy. Furthermore, they have a call to reach kids and share the gospel with them. You know this, because they've told you like eighty zillion times. Day after day, they talk about how they care about the kids, and how they want to see kids saved. Whenever there's an altar call about missionary callings, they're always up there to get prayed for and commissioned to go work with kids. Seems like a pretty straightforward calling, right?
Let's see what the person's actual actions are. Do they contribute money to literacy organizations? No. Do they volunteer at literacy programs locally? No. Do they work with the kids ministry in their church? No. Do they use vacation time to volunteer with missionary organizations who do exactly what it is they say they're called to do? Nope. Do they even share the gospel with their own nieces and nephews? Nope again. Why? Well, they can't donate money to help the needy because they'd have to give up cable. And if they donated time in the evenings they'd miss their shows, which they've already paid for and therefore have to watch. Weekends are the only time they can hang out with their friends, so that's out of the question. And they can't take vacation, because they're up for a promotion at work, and they need that job to pay for the cable bill and the fancy clothes for going out on weekends. But they still want to help kids. Or do they?
Wanting something is nothing more than an emotion. Everybody wants stuff like world peace, but not many are willing to commit their own resources to it. That's the distinction James is trying to point out in his letter. It's one thing to believe in turning the other cheek if someone strikes you, and quite another to actually take the abuse when some misguided soul slugs you in the mouth for being a public Christian. James saw plenty of "paper Christians" who claimed to believe what Jesus said, but didn't actually put any of their own resources behind it. They'd see someone in need and say "I hope things get better for you," without hoping enough to actually let it cost them something. It's all about the sound bites, and these people knew exactly what to say when the cameras were pointed at them.
If you see a need, how about contributing something towards its fulfillment? If you're called to do something, how about taking a step towards doing what it is you're called towards. That's how you put your faith into practice. It's how you prove your beliefs are yours, and not just a set of "talking points" you learned in church. You don't always have to solve the whole problem yourself, but you can at least do what you can to make a difference.
So, the question you have to ask yourself, when you examine your beliefs, is "Is it just my mouth that has faith, or does the rest of me sort of believe this stuff too?" If it's not just your mouth, see if you can convince those other parts to act just as enthusiastically about this thing as your mouth seems to be. Otherwise tell your mouth to shut up, because, at this point, it's not fooling anyone.
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Sometimes there's a fairly big gap between talk and action. It's the difference between a press release and meaningful results. One of my pet peeves is when a politician or corporate spokesperson says "We take full responsibility for INSERT MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE OR CALLOUSLY NEGLIGENT ACT HERE." And then they do nothing, or offer some lame excuse as to why they screwed up epically. Nobody gets fired. No behavior changes. No reparations are paid to injured parties. Nobody goes to jail, or even admits guilt in a court room. Absolutely nothing happens except for the crocodile tears and a thirty second sound bite.
The thing is, we can be like that sometimes. It's not just that we do evil and then pretend to care only when we get caught, and only until people get distracted by something else and we're off the hook. We talk about believing in the right thing, and wanting to do the right thing, while actually doing nothing to make it happen. "Your call is important to us. Estimated wait time is four hours and thirty seven minutes."
Let's use the hypothetical example of someone who cares deeply about child literacy. Furthermore, they have a call to reach kids and share the gospel with them. You know this, because they've told you like eighty zillion times. Day after day, they talk about how they care about the kids, and how they want to see kids saved. Whenever there's an altar call about missionary callings, they're always up there to get prayed for and commissioned to go work with kids. Seems like a pretty straightforward calling, right?
Let's see what the person's actual actions are. Do they contribute money to literacy organizations? No. Do they volunteer at literacy programs locally? No. Do they work with the kids ministry in their church? No. Do they use vacation time to volunteer with missionary organizations who do exactly what it is they say they're called to do? Nope. Do they even share the gospel with their own nieces and nephews? Nope again. Why? Well, they can't donate money to help the needy because they'd have to give up cable. And if they donated time in the evenings they'd miss their shows, which they've already paid for and therefore have to watch. Weekends are the only time they can hang out with their friends, so that's out of the question. And they can't take vacation, because they're up for a promotion at work, and they need that job to pay for the cable bill and the fancy clothes for going out on weekends. But they still want to help kids. Or do they?
Wanting something is nothing more than an emotion. Everybody wants stuff like world peace, but not many are willing to commit their own resources to it. That's the distinction James is trying to point out in his letter. It's one thing to believe in turning the other cheek if someone strikes you, and quite another to actually take the abuse when some misguided soul slugs you in the mouth for being a public Christian. James saw plenty of "paper Christians" who claimed to believe what Jesus said, but didn't actually put any of their own resources behind it. They'd see someone in need and say "I hope things get better for you," without hoping enough to actually let it cost them something. It's all about the sound bites, and these people knew exactly what to say when the cameras were pointed at them.
If you see a need, how about contributing something towards its fulfillment? If you're called to do something, how about taking a step towards doing what it is you're called towards. That's how you put your faith into practice. It's how you prove your beliefs are yours, and not just a set of "talking points" you learned in church. You don't always have to solve the whole problem yourself, but you can at least do what you can to make a difference.
So, the question you have to ask yourself, when you examine your beliefs, is "Is it just my mouth that has faith, or does the rest of me sort of believe this stuff too?" If it's not just your mouth, see if you can convince those other parts to act just as enthusiastically about this thing as your mouth seems to be. Otherwise tell your mouth to shut up, because, at this point, it's not fooling anyone.
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