Fearless and Faithful Life

 Today we are going to talk about faith and good deeds in James 2:14-26. James begins by saying if you claim that you have faith, but you don’t show it with your actions, how true is your faith.  “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” James 2:17  Good deeds are what God wants from us. Good deeds show our faith by our actions.  If you go to church and tell everyone you are a believer but outside of church you are selfish and only care about yourself, no good deeds are happening.   People can have faith without good deeds and have good deeds without faith.  James says that “it is foolish.”  He says even the demons believe there is one God and they tremble in fear.  They have no good deeds to offer.  This means faith isn’t enough.  “ Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” James 2:26.  As a kid, you can show good deeds by car...

James 2: 1-13 By Brad Ruley        The main point of this passage is that we are called to "love your neighbor as yourself."  James tells a story about a meeting and a rich person walks in and you give him the seat next to you. Then soon after a poor person comes in with filthy clothes and a bad stench and you tell him to sit on the floor. So, what James says in these verses to not discriminate or in my twelve-year-old mind, have favoritism. We shouldn't show favoritism because you can hurt someone's feelings and make them feel left out of things and make them question am I good enough.  This really stood out to me because this has happened to me in my life.  I have been judged unfairly by others.  I remember a specific time on the bus when I was made fun of by an older student who treated others as if he was better than them.  It made me feel angry.   We are all equal in God's eyes.  We all sin and make mistakes.  Ja...