Translating The Promises Of God Into Powerful Deeds For God
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 2:17
No one can live for long by inhaling but never exhaling. No one can stay healthy for long by eating but never exercising.
Advertisement
All input and no output makes for a Dead Sea—and a dead faith. In the Christian life, the outlet of faith is good works.
Charles Hodge discusses the important balance needed to maintain a healthy walk with God.
WALK WITH CHARLES HODGE
“Although religion does not consist in outward acts, it always produces them.
“The love of God can no more fail to produce obedience to his commands than a mother’s love can fail to produce watchfulness and care for her infant. A person’s religion, therefore, is vain which expends itself in exercises that relate exclusively to his own salvation.
“And doubtless many Christians go limping all their days because they confine their attention too much to themselves.
“True religion as we find it in the Bible is a permanent, spontaneous, and progressive principle of spiritual life, influencing the whole man and producing all the fruits of righteousness. It is the root and spring of all right feelings and actions, manifesting itself in love and obedience toward God, in justice and benevolence toward others, and in the proper government of ourselves.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
You needn’t wonder if a tree is alive. Its fruitful—or fruitless—condition will tell you all you need to know. In the same way, a living faith produces the evidences of faith: good works.
Hebrews 11 describes people who had faith that “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, … escaped the edge of the sword; … became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (Hebrews 11:33-34).
Do you have a faith like that? Does your faith translate the promises of God into powerful deeds for God?
