Putting In The Work

 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?  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.  James 2:14-17

When my wife and me starting dating, I used to buy her things to make her happy.   The silliest thing that I used to do was when she was mad at me, I would buy her Haagen Daas Ice Cream.  Chocolate Chocolate Chip was my ‘go to’ flavor, and whenever she got it, she would let out a little smile letting me know that all was forgiven.

As we grew in our relationship, I would still do things for her, but something changed.  More often, I found myself doing things for her not because there was a motive or something to gain out of it.  It became more about how good it would make me feel inside.  For example the other day, she invited me into the store where she worked, and said, “I want you to smell this fragrance.  It’s smells so good!”  So, I wandered over to the perfume section, and she sprays a sample for me.  “Don’t you just love it,” she asked.  “Yes, honey,” I replied, and before I knew what hit me, I was walking out the door with the gift package for that fragrance in hand.  As I looked back at the smile on her face, it did not bother me one bit as I loved allowing her to sucker me into this, but more importantly, I loved doing it for her.  This is what faith by works is about.  It is never about the act itself.  It is about the ‘why’ behind the act.  It is as if you enjoy ‘putting in the work’ because it’s not like work at all.

God wants our work to be out of love for Him.  The verses today are one of the most debated verses in scripture.  Some faiths are founded on these verses noting that we are called to put in the work to show our love for Christ.  This is backward in my opinion.  As I spoke about the love for my wife, the things I do for her are not to earn her love.  Instead, the things I do are because of the love I have for her.  It is unconditional.  There are neither expectations nor am I looking for something in return.  I simply do it out of the joy inside my heart, and the fact that she loves me, while making it even better, is not relevant.  Our love for God should be similar.  We do for Him and others unconditionally because we have fully experienced His love for and grace given to us.  We cannot help but show it to others because like God’s gift, it was given freely without expectation.

God’s love for us is infinite and beyond our understanding.  Like scripture, our goal is not to just absorb its words.  It is to allow it to breathe life into our heart and spirit to make it indeed living.  This is the true depth behind the words of James; to know God on such a level that our faith is filled with an abundant love where our works are not just proof of our faith.  It is the end result of it.  So as Paul says, “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:19)  What is God’s love inspiring you to do today?  How can you make your faith be more unconditional?  My prayer is that our love of Jesus Christ motivates us to put in the work.  Amen.