Don't just sit there...

Now that we know we were made for holiness, that we live most fully when we let our light shine, and have some tools to help us stay connected to that light, we will finish with a call to action.

This faith you have, the faith you are developing was never meant for you alone. If we are made in the image of God, then we were made for others. We were made to give of ourselves just as Jesus did. We were made to inspire others as the Holy Spirit does.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

Pretty tough love from James, isn’t it? Faith is dead if you aren’t doing anything with it, and you can't tell him otherwise.

That’s the thing though, isn’t it? When you truly love someone, it comes out in actions. Telling someone you love them is meaningless if you never act as if you love them.

It’s the same in our faith. If you take off the bushel basket and let your light shine, it isn’t so that people see how great you are. It’s so they see how great they are in the eyes of God. If you treat others with love and peace, seeing all that is beautiful, true, and just within them, you will act differently towards them. If you see the value of the people God has placed in your life, you haveto act. Not because you are made to, but because you want to. There’s really not much of a choice in it.

This faith we have is too big to be held inside and kept to ourselves. It’s calling us out of ourselves and into the world.

Go.

Photo: B Pedretti