Lazy Faith (Pt.)

(Part 1)

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?”-James 2:14

Have you ever purchased a gym membership and then only attended once or twice? You signed up because you believed that going to the gym would help you reach your health and fitness goals and that housed within that gym was everything you needed to develop consistent disciplines that would help you reach your expectations. 

However, for those who only engaged the gym once or twice, those health and fitness goals were likely never achieved; not because you didn’t believe they could be, but rather because of your inaction. The same could be said of us in regards to our spiritual health. 

I heard a quote recently from an author discussing his own journey of faith. He was referring to a dry season of his life when he made this statement: “I wasn’t lacking in faith, I was just lazy in practice.” That statement got me reading James 2:14-26 a lot differently. 

I’ve always approached James Chapter 2 as a dialogue on faith vs. works discussing the value of each and how they compliment one another. Yet, works still often gets cast in a negative light; most notably when it is seen as a means of trying to gain salvation. What I find interesting in the New Living Translation is how the author interchanges the word work with the word 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.”-James 2:21-22

Here is why that is interesting to me. Laziness is defined as: to dislike, oppose, or be disinclined toward work, activity, or exertion. When James begins to talk about faith without action, that quote comes to mind- “I wasn’t lacking faith, I was just lazy in practice.” It causes these words from James 2:15-18 to take on a whole new light:

 “Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? 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.”

James doesn’t mince words here. Faith that isn’t put into action is dead and useless. In a very real sense, some people’s faith is as useless as the gym membership card they carry around in their wallet. The true value of faith is not seen or experienced until it is put into action. 

It is hard to claim that you are a person of faith, when there is no activity to support that statement (James 2:23-24). Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions, and not by faith alone. Would you say that a person with a gym membership that only goes sporadically is “committed to their health and fitness?” We all know the old adage: Actions speak louder than words. We don’t listen to people’s creeds to determine their heart, we watch their actions. Thus, our inaction, as well, is declaring something about us. We have lazy faith. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church