Call Off the Search

I was reading by online Bible this morning and then went to read Relevant Magazine, when I saw this banner ad for Frontiers at the top of their site. And not just Frontiers, but for our particular work. Cool, huh? Hopefully that will bring some "relevant" workers our way. Onto other thoughts. James thoughts:

14-17Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

18I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

19-20Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

21-24Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

25-26The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you
end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

When was the last time you were seriously reminded that your ACTIONS should line up with what you say you believe? Last night I was writing a letter to the church I went to when I first became a Christian asking if we could come present there. I doubt that they'll have us over (mostly because I heard that the Senior Pastor just resigned, and he was the last person on staff still there from when I worked there), but I DIGRESS. Writing them sure puts the past 15 years in perspective! Wow...I remember sitting in their pews just soaking up every word that would drip from their mad-ranting pastor's mouth! He was so passionate about the truth, and such a good teacher. All he wanted was for his church to know God, and to change the world. And I look at our crew of students, and so many of us have gone on to do crazy things for the Lord (whether it's in full time ministry or not). It's just that somewhere along the way, our Pastors said to us, "Hey, your actions should match what you believe," and we sort of believed them. And no, we by no means get it right all the time (GOD NO!), but the past 15 years of saying to the Lord, "I believe in YOU, and because of that, I'll live for you..."

It's good, eh?