Is Your Faith Dead?

It is very easy to become complacent in our lives. This world is very busy and there is always a sense of urgency. I think most of us feel a sense of urgency from the moment we wake up in the morning. With all of the things that need to be done in a day, it is very easy to forget why we are really here and what we are called to do.

We all have a purpose, the Lord wants to use each of us each day to further His Kingdom here on Earth, but do we live like we believe this?

My question is not do we SAY we believe this, my question is: do we LIVE like we believe this?

Are we walking out our faith or are we just saying we have faith? We all know that it is much easier to believe someone’s actions than their words. People prove they are trustworthy by their character through their actions, not their words. Words can be deceitful, they can be twisted, but our actions show the truth of who we are.

You may not be actively sinning in your life, you may never gossip, cuss or lie. You may even be someone who wakes up every morning and prays and spends time with the Lord. You may go to church every time the doors open. But, what are you doing in between all of that?

Are you helping people in need even when it isn’t convenient for you? Are you slowing down and speaking to strangers when you run in to the grocery store? Are you loving those who hurt you? Are you sacrificing your own comfort and your own schedule for someone else?

I understand these are very hard questions, but I want to urge you to stop and think through this.

We are called to have an active faith.

That means putting what we say we believe into action: not just at special church events or when you are able to find the time, that means at all times.

Let’s look at James 2:14-17, the Message version:
"Dear 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?"

This stands out to me because I see this a lot in our culture. We can see someone in need and we may tell them we are praying for them, and we may truly be praying for them, but what if there is more action that the Lord would have you do along with praying?
This does not always mean financial help. This could mean giving something even more valuable, your time.

Are you willing to give your time to sit and minister to someone in need? To show the love of Christ by paying attention and listening to the people around you? Is there some way you could help someone, but you won’t do it because it will be an inconvenience to your day?

What if everyone thought that way? If there were never people who gave up their own desires to help others in need, we would never hear those amazing testimonies. We would never see how the love of the Father poured out through His children will truly change lives.

Let’s look at verses 19-20:
"Do 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?"

We must examine our own lives. Are we professing to believe in God, but then sitting back in complacency?
 
To be complacent means: uninformed or unaware self satisfaction. Do we not see this so often in cultural christianity? People who are so satisfied with how “good of a person they are,” while being completely unaware that they are doing nothing to further the kingdom of God.

James tells us, “faith without works is dead” and “faith is perfected through works.”
So if you claim to have faith, but are not putting any action behind that, your faith is dead.

Let us choose to revive our faith with action. As we put our own selves aside and are active in the faith, our faith will be perfected: it will be stronger, it will be alive.

Let’s not waste anymore time with a dead faith that is useless. It is time the Church stands and puts action behind what we say we believe; only then will we see true change.