Saturday, February 16, 2008

Show me your faith without works...

I was reading in the New Testament recently, the scripture that says:

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ---the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied 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.

I have read that several times, but for some reason, it finally clicked for me this last time I read it. For me, I realized if I don't put into practice what I know to be right, and give evidence of my relationship and faith in God, then how am I any different than the next person? And for that matter, what exactly am I accomplishing with my life??

There was a time in my life when there were several different Jaime's...
There was work Jaime, school Jaime, church Jaime, Christian friend Jaime, non-Christian friend Jaime....and i'm sure there were several more but those were the main Jaime's.
Looking back, I think I was trying to separate my faith from my life in a way. I had faith, but that wasn't always evident in the choices I was making. I presented the good Christian girl facade to some people, but tried to seem less Christian to others. That was a dark time in my life, but it taught me so much about who I don't ever want to be again.

What it boils down to for me is this: I love God. I want people who know me, to know that. I want people who don't know me to wonder what makes me different than them. Which means there needs to be something different. Which means that I need to not only have faith, but I need to have deeds-which is defined as "something that is done".

I want to have an internal faith, with external evidence. Because what good is my faith, without deeds???

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