Does your world see your faith? That is what James is challenging us with by telling stories of Abraham and Rahab.
“…Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? (YES!) 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.” (James 2 v 20-26)
Rahab is someone who risked it all, she put her and her family’s lives on the line for the mission. This very act showed her faith.
In 1901 a seven-year-old Indian girl named Preena escaped from a Hindu temple and sought refuge with a Christian named Amy Carmichael, a young woman who had come from Ireland to share the gospel in India.
According to Preena’s story, her widowed mother had dedicated her as a child to be “married to the gods,” which ultimately meant a life of prostitution. The traumatised child, whose hands had been branded with hot irons as punishment for a previous escape, had heard Carmichael talking about a God who loves everyone.
After checking into the details behind Preena’s story of alleged abused, Amy Carmichael concluded, “Investigations not only confirmed [the child’s story], but unveiled an evil greater in its extent and more grievously unholy in its character than ever imagined.”
On the spot, Amy Carmichael made up her mind. “Since these things are so,” she said, “I must do something about it!” Later she wrote, “I mean it with an intensity I know not how to express, that … such unutterable wrongs … in the name of all that is just and all that is merciful should be swept out of the land without a day’s delay.”
For Carmichael, Preena’s escape launched a 50-year career in intercepting and retrieving girls and babies from a “life” worse than death and giving them a home. (Adapted from Carolyn Custis James, Half the Church)
We need a better now. Faith is eternal and faith is now. Faith is seen but faith sees. With faith we see and hear the pain of others. People need God now. The field is white unto harvest. The needs are endless, the cries are constant and if there is anything we can do then we must, we just have to. If there is money we can give we must give. If there are hands to hold we must reach out. If there are invitations to respond to we must go. Our faith must be seen!
Faith doesn’t stop the moment we surrender our lives to Christ and accept his forgiveness and mercy and grace. That’s just the beginning. This faith should lead us to action. In a world of pain, true faith cannot remain silent or selfish.
Sometimes we get so caught up in thinking that to be ‘saved’ means to be saved for life after death, and it’s all about eternity.
But genuine faith is now. It is faith that the world can see. It is not focused on a pious life but around works.
What is faith if it doesn’t feed the hungry? What is faith if it doesn’t provide water? What is faith if it doesn’t house the homeless? What is faith if it doesn’t clothe the poor? What is faith if it doesn’t care for the sick? What is faith if it doesn’t visit the prisoner? (Matt 25:34-36).
How is your faith seen? When we look at the different areas of our lives, our time, energies, actions, habits, words, finances, how do these areas reveal our faith, our belief?
Missions Paul 