James 2:14-17

“Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?” James 2:14, MSG

My kids used to watch the kid’s tv show “Blues Clues” which means I did often, too! Steve in the stiped blue shirt had a bunch of friends in his “house” that helped him solve a mystery with all kinds of clues. Two of these characters were Mr. & Mrs. Salt and Pepper, a married couple who always go together.

Did you know that if someone asks for either salt or pepper at a dining table, etiquette says to pass them both, together.

Some things are just better together like peanut butter and chocolate (Yes, I’m a Reese’s fan!), baseball and hot dogs, Welch’s Grape Juice and Hawaiian Bread (the official Methodist Communion), and faith and (good) works.

James argues for the marrying of faith and works. So does Paul. And so does Jesus. To love God and to love neighbor require actions, “as the lifeless body is dead, so faith without actions is dead.” (James 2:26, CEB) Faith is not only about the heart or soul. Faith is not sequestered somewhere in the mind alone. Faith that is authentic (or as John Wesley describes one who truly has it as an “altogether Christian.”) requires more than mere belief.

Faith requires action (good works).

They go together; like two sides of the same coin. “True faith produces works, and is perfected by them; that is, by the grace of God working in the believer, while he is showing his faith by his works.” (Wesley, J. Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, James 2:26)

What good are you doing right now that is perfecting and revealing your true faith?

-Chris