Does Your Faith Work?

In 2006, an 18-year-old girl named Katie went on a short-term mission trip to Uganda. As a result, her life was radically changed. She was so moved by the brokenness of the people and the children in Uganda that she knew she had to return. After graduating high school, instead of going to college like her parents wanted her to, she moved from the suburbs of Nashville to Uganda to care for the abandoned and orphaned children she had met.

What would cause a homecoming queen teenager from Tennessee to disappoint her parents, lose all but a handful of her friends, break up with her boyfriend then, and move to Uganda, where she knew no one and could not speak the language? In her own words, her vision and desire were "to see lives transformed, relationships restored, and communities changed through the truth of Jesus Christ."

Katie adopted 13 Ugandan girls by the time she was 23 years old. She then created a ministry called Amazima Ministries that matches orphan children to sponsors here and around the world. In 2017, she also built a school for all the kids in the community, where she still serves today. She also wrote a book, "Kisses from Katie, " telling her story.

Katie's story is impressive and inspirational. Her work inspired a great deal of faith, which in turn led to great work.

My question is, what work has your faith led you to do?

Maybe a story like this deflates you instead of motivating and inspiring you because if you're honest, you'd say, "I'm barely holding on. I've got my issues. How could I move away and start something like that when my faith is struggling?"

But I share Katie's story to open your eyes to God's possibilities of using you in incredible ways. I believe God is moving, and you and I have an opportunity to join Him. We have a chance to experience His power. We can help people who are far from God and hurting and use our gifts, time, and resources to make a huge impact.

Life has a way of crushing our dreams and minimizing our potential. Work and responsibilities take over quickly, and our schedules overwhelm us with daily tasks that hardly leave us any time for ourselves. We swim up current, barely surviving our weekly routine. Our faith and calling to serve God become distant flashes of what we had hoped to do. The desire to serve God is there, but the practical side of doing something for God seems so hard, maybe even impossible. You don't have to start a school in Uganda to make a difference. You don't have to be called into full-time ministry. But every one of us is called to put our faith into action. I believe that when faith is working in you, it does things. When faith works, it goes.

Works do not save us, but genuine faith will display itself in our work for the Lord. Demonstrating a working faith will require these three steps.

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which can save your souls 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:19-25)

1. Accept the Word of God Quickly

We must humble ourselves under the Word of God and accept it because it can save our souls. We are to be quick to hear and slow to speak. We usually do the opposite; we're quick to speak, and when someone else is talking, we're not even listening. Many of our problems are caused by being quick to speak rather than being quick to listen. That's good marriage advice. As you're trying to solve an issue, be more willing to listen than talk over each other.

Be slow to anger and develop a short fuse. Be calm. A calm attitude increases your chance to show love and to solve the problem successfully. So often, instead of being quiet, we escalate the argument, whether with our kids, spouse, or even somebody at work. How frequently have you spoken harsh words in anger to one another in your marriage? Little annoyances can set you off, and suddenly, you're arguing over who left the dirty towel on the floor. God wants us to be slow to anger and quick to listen to His Word.

2. Respond to the Word of God Consistently

In verse 21, James says we must also be doers of the Word. When you read it or hear it preached, respond to it. Go and do it consistently. When you don't let the Word of God change you, you're just deceiving yourself.

When faith works, it does things.

The test of maturity is not Bible knowledge. Just learning more about the Bible will not make you more spiritually mature. It's not going to make you grow necessarily. The test of maturity is your character. How have you taken what you have read and learned and applied it to your life? How has it changed how you talk, your schedule, your attitude, and how you live your life?

I often hear people say, "I want to go deeper." But their idea of "going deeper" is just learning more.

But many times, our problem isn't knowing what God says. It's doing what God says. We have the knowledge, but if we don't do something with it, it means jack-squat for our spiritual growth and the blessings God wants to give us.

It reminds me of when I was a kid, coming home from school one day, and my sister, who is ten years older, was lying on her bed watching Buns of Steel. In the early 90s, the Buns of Steel workout videos were all the rage. My sister got the workout video playing on the TV, but she's eating a frozen pizza on her bed!

How often do we do that with the Word of God? We read it, underline it, post it on social media, talk about how much we love it, and then don't do anything with it. You've got to live out the Word, not just hear it.

3. Reflect on the Word of God Diligently

The purpose of a mirror is to evaluate yourself. We look in a mirror to fix our hair, shave, or put on makeup. We evaluate our appearance and fix ourselves up before going out in public. But what good is a mirror if you don't do anything about what you see?

Men, imagine you're shaving, and you cut yourself on the neck. It's a pretty good gash, and blood is running down your neck and onto your shirt. You see yourself in the mirror but decide not to do anything about it. What's going to happen when you show up to work that way? Everybody's going to look at you like you're crazy!

We do the same thing with the Word of God. Just like a mirror, God's Word shows us things about ourselves that need to be fixed.  But what good is the Word of God if you look into it, see the problem, but don't do anything about it? You don't clean yourself up. You hear a sermon, read a passage of scripture, and then walk away without applying it to your life.

James is saying that the Word of God shows us the problem. We see that we need to clean up our language, our habits, what we watch, and our minds. If we do nothing with what we see in God's Word, then we have to ask, is this faith genuine, or am I just trying to get a free ticket to heaven? You can fool me, you can fool your spouse, you can fool your church, but God is the ultimate judge.

Reflecting on the Word of God also leads to freedom. This is the liberty James talks about. I firmly believe you can find freedom from your addiction, your marriage problems, your depression, and your anxiety when you diligently reflect upon the Word of God. It may require a small group leader, coach, counselor, or mentor to help you uncover the truth of scripture. But you will find freedom as you see what the Word of God says and how you apply it to your life.