Is your faith any good? (Pt.2)

(Part 2)


 “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds. “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?”-James 2:17-20

Just to show you how they had already begun to interchange the terms, look at the next line: “You say you have faith for you believe that there is one God.” They are trying to make the argument that they have faith because they believe something. So James throws them a curve ball: “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.”

Does that mean that demons have faith? No! James is pointing out that believing in something does not necessarily equate to having faith in it. These demons may acknowledge God, but they certainly did not live according to His will and His ways. James calls this kind of faith dead and useless. In fact, it isn’t really faith at all. Faith is putting what you believe into action.

“Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.”-James 2:21-24

It is faith accompanied by action that makes our faith complete. Notice how beliefs led to faith; but it wasn’t faith until Abraham acted on it: “Abraham believed God (heart knowledge), and God counted him as righteous because of his faith (He acted on it.).”
It wasn’t faith simply because he believed it. Faith isn’t complete until we act on it.

We can verbally affirm that we believe something, but never really exercise any real faith in that area:

I can say that I believe in evangelism, but never demonstrate any faith in that area by witnessing to something and sharing the good news with them.

I can say I believe in tithing, but never demonstrate any faith in that area by giving.

I can say I believe in healing, but never demonstrate any faith in that area by coming forward to be prayed for or praying for someone else’s healing.

In reality, those areas of our faith are dead (incomplete); not because we don’t believe it, but rather because we are not acting on it. James cautions us that such faith is dead and lifeless:

“Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.-James 2:26

Is your faith any good? What areas of your faith are lying dead because of inaction? Let’s pray that God will breath new life into those areas and that we will once again put feet to our faith.


Pastor Scott Burr