Faith with deeds

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?”

-James 2:14 

Faith – is often described by many as the act of believing in something; or someone. Then I asked myself: if this is the real description of faith, then does it mean that everyone who simply believes in God will be saved? Even demons (James 2:19)? It’s been a question for me since it was written in Ephesians 2:8 that it is through our faith that we were saved by grace – giving me the impression that even those who simply believes in God but does not obey Him will be saved. So do you think everyone who just believes in Christ will be saved?

Well, the answer for my question is fairly easy – no – obviously. Like what apostle James said in James 2:17, faith without deeds is dead. And if our faith is dead, do you think the saving grace of God will be activated in us? Of course not, because faith is not as simple as believing only. And another thing, how can our faith in Christ be seen if we are not obedient to His Word? We believe in Him who is without sin, but are not obeying what He says – is that even called faith? In the part of believing, maybe yes – but is incomplete without deeds, and therefore cannot be called real faith. To show this, James made a great example – which is Abraham.

“Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”

-James 2:21-22

With this example, we could see that Abraham was not just considered righteous, but was also justified (James 2:24) because of his faith and action. Now with that being said, we can easily conclude that faith is not merely about believing alone – but believing with action. And as Christians we all must remember that, and we must act out what we are believing in – act out Christ in our lives by obeying His Word. Only by this that we could be confident in ourselves that we are truly saved by grace – if we are believing and obeying in Him. For our justification comes from these, and if we have them, we wouldn’t have any worry about facing the Lord in the end of times. This serves as a warning for all of us who is in Christ – so that we wouldn’t go astray.

We all must thank God for this revelation, for if this was not revealed to us, many would take the Christian walk easily, and many would become disobedient. All the glory be to God! Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://jesusfootprints.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/abraham-and-isaac-on-mount-moriah.jpg