What is faith without action?

Today, I come to you with this post. I do not intend so much as to educate you today, but just to provoke thoughts, which will, in turn, allow you to make your own judgements on this topic and ultimately strengthen your faith in the Lord your God.

 “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” – James 2:17

The passage above from scripture is one which is so commonly misinterpreted, especially when read out of context. James is saying here in his letter, that if we have true faith in Jesus, then that faith causes a change in our behaviour.

James goes on to say, “you believe that there is one God. Good!”, well “even the demons” and Satan believe in God. Christians believe in God, not as to his existence, but who he is; Christians believe in God’s grace, which is only possible as a result of Jesus’ death and resurrection. That is faith, and it is only by such faith that we are made righteous with God.

We must remember, through our belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and in his death and resurrection, we are made one with God and can have a relationship with our heavenly father. Our righteousness with God is not a reward for our earthly actions.

Jesus came to Earth to teach us that it is not through keeping the rules and regulations of the law, that we are accepted by God. God’s grace is a gift to all and not doing these actions does not make you any less righteous.

God will always love you

Habakkuk is one of the shortest books in the Bible, with only three chapters, you may have never heard of it before now. That is why I am giving you a verse from it, to hopefully inspire you to read the rest of the book and to remind you that God loves you very much and because of that will never leave you, even when you are angry at God for putting Sin in the world.

Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the sheepfold and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my saviour.

Habukkuk 3:17-18

In these two verses, Habakkuk (whose prayer this is) says that even though his he is angry with the Lord for allowing all his crops to die and all his cattle to run away, resulting in him having no money, he will still be joyful and praise the Lord.

Shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept”

John 11:35 – “Jesus wept”

As most of you probably know John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible however, it is far from being unimportant.

Lazarus was dead he had been in the tomb for four days when Jesus arrived Mary and Martha came to greet him as they walked to the tomb Jesus wept.

He cried because a man he loved was dead. People cry when loved ones die; maybe you’ve experienced that feeling when someone you know and love has died. From this, we know Jesus is human however when he raises Lazarus from the dead we know he is also fully god. When Jesus came down to earth he became a man by doing this he humbled himself. Later on, he would do this again by dying for us on the cross.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ NIV)

If you liked this post be sure to check out Tworiversblog post on John 11:35

1 Corinthians 12:12

‘Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.’

With the new year came new years resolutions and media campaigns telling you how to get the perfect body, house, life and a myriad of other things.

Where does your self-worth come from?

The Bible teaches us that no matter who we are, God’s eternal love still reaches out to us.

This verse tells us, we are all of equal importance in Christ’s eyes; just in the same way every part of the body is equal importance. The passage goes on to say,  ‘if the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?’.

If you take anything from this post, remember that God loves and cares for you whoever you are, no matter your race or gender. The Lord your God has a great plan for your life.