October 10, 2025 | Be God's Family
Faith and Works Go Together
Scripture: James 2:18-26(NIV)
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Devotional
In the small town I grew up in, our family ended up owning half of the block. There was a portion of it that we called the orchard. Dad had planted 7-8 apple trees in that area. Most years those trees produced good fruit. My mother would make yummy desserts with them. My favorite was apple tarts. Dad always sprayed for bugs and disease. Some years those trees did not produce very good apples even after Dad sprayed them. Strange worms or bugs would eat away at them and there would be no apple tarts. They simply produced rotten fruit or fruit that was not good for human consumption. There were times when the tree would die.
In our scripture today James’s message is your faith and your works go together. If your faith is not expressed in your works, then it is dead. In those 9 verses my Jesus Centered Bible, uses the word “faith” 10 times, and the words “works/deed/action” is used 8 times. Living out an active faith is not just a Sunday thing; it is a 24/7 thing. James is calling us to action. How we live should reflect what we believe. A body without the Spirit is spiritually dead. Just like a body without breath is physically dead. If you stop breathing, you are dead. Similarly, faith without good deeds or works is dead. Faith that doesn’t produce action is like a lifeless body. It may exist but it has no purpose, no power and makes no impact.
Are you living a life that is rotting or killing your faith like the tree in our orchard? Or are you producing good fruit that is working for the good of God’s kingdom? Use what God has blessed you with to grow your faith with good deeds. Faith in Jesus is alive. We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Will you accept James’s invitation to action?
Poem
Faith and Actions
Proverbs 10
The wages of the righteous is life,
but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.
Proverbs 10:16
God gives a choice ‘tween life and death
‘Tween blessing and full cursing
It’s Faith, ‘tis true, begins new life
Yet needs Actions rehearsing
For without Deeds of righteousness
Your budding fruit stops growing
And falls to earth--hard, dead, no use--
Without true joy bestowing
So, point your blooming Faith toward Son
Drink in the pow’r He gives you
To be a fruitful harvest blest
Of Works, Faith’s bounty view
