Bonafide Faith

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”  James 2:17

When a car, any other mechanical object, appliance, or product used to make our lives a little better die, it no longer is useful or serves its purpose.  Something designed to help us becomes useless when it no longer works.  Faith is like that.  Faith causes us to act on what we believe, otherwise it is not real faith.  Saving faith is that which trusts in Christ and His work on the cross which leads His followers to demonstrate their faith by doing the things for others within our capacity that Christ would do if He were on earth.  We are His hands and feet.

Christ was aways about His Father’s business and always ready to serve in whatever capacity was needed.  Doing good works in faith is how we demonstrate to the world that we belong to Christ.  Doing good works is not a condition for salvation; doing good works is the result of salvation.  If we claim we have faith but have no desire to put that faith to work, then our faith is dead, which indicates that our faith is actually non-existent.  In my life, I have found that my faith in Christ gives me a desire to help others and to live circumspectly before the world.  I’m certainly not perfect, but desire to live my life in such a way that shows that my faith is the “real deal”.

We act on faith all day long as we go about our daily lives.  We flip on a light switch, sit down on chairs, start our cars, and do thousands of other tasks without even thinking about it because we have faith that our actions will produce the desired results.  This kind of faith is produced by cause and effect.  Repetition produces habit which leads one to act automatically.  When we act on our faith in Christ by doing works that promote God’s kingdom on earth, we grow in faith and our good works become automatic to us.  If our faith is dead, we have no real incentive, no real push to glorify God.  Our faith spurs us to action; our good works are a testimony to our faith in the Lord.

Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount to “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).   A dead faith brings no glory to God, but a vibrant faith brings Him blessings and honor.  One other critical aspect about living as a believer in Christ is that it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews11:6a).  In that case, we better not leave home without it!