Faith and Works

In James 2:15-17 we read, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

I have been have been dealing with this in a very interesting way recently. As you may know, here in Oregon we are the only state with absolutely no restrictions on abortion. None, whatsoever. There is a group of us here working hard to put the first pro-life legislation on the ballot in 2016.

In order to generate support for our cause, we sent out a letter to several thousand Christians around the state explaining what we were doing, why it is important and what people can do to help. Many people have joined us by praying, giving or in other ways. However, every single day I am receiving phone calls from people who received our letter but are asking to have their names removed from our mailing list. All of them say something like this; “I totally agree with your cause and wish you well, but I don’t want to receive mail from you anymore.”

It is the exact equivalent of, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”. None of us can solve every problem in the world, and we aren’t asked to. We are asked to help with the problems put in front of us. If we fail to do this, our faith may as well be dead.