Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Faith and Deeds

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 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? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accomplished by action, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that people are justified by what they do and not by faith alone.
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? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. ~ James 2:14-26

I've been working through this passage for the past few weeks and what it means. I know in my heart that God has called me to go on this trip, or at least work towards going. I feel as though I'm stepping out in faith, knowing that God will lead and provide. I KNOW I do not have the same amount of faith as Abraham did to sacrifice his son Issac. I feel like there is a point that you can have faith, but eventually you have to face reality. I know it shouldn't be like this. I have faith that God will provide, but in reality, if he doesn't by September 30th, I'm not going to Lesotho. It's hard to find the balance, or maybe there shouldn't be a balance. Maybe it should all be faith. And that is why this is my faith safari, my faith adventure. Learning to trust God in the things that I can't see at all.

Prayer Request~
~ Finances. I'm only 1/4 of the way there! (If anyone has any good fundraising ideas please let me know!) and others on the team are struggling.
~ The team leaders Jason & Connie as they train and lead us before we leave.
~ Delrine, one of the missionaries in Lesotho has been having serious pains, originally thought to be kidney stones. Now the doctors don't know what it is.
~ Me, Jillian, just to be able to manage 21 credits of school, an internship, job and preparing for Africa.

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