The ALIVE Faith
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2: 14-1`7
As Christians, we know that we are saved by grace not by works. We can do very good things, but when our intentions are not noble, we can still miss Heaven in spite of all the good things we have done. I want to clarify this as much as I can. Ephesians 2: 8-9 is very clear; “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. However, I still agree with James, and I believe James is not in opposition to Paul: they both speak about “FAITH” and I would just add that James breaks down the subject for better understanding and speaks about true faith, the difference between a living faith and a dead faith.
Think about having a fruit tree, let’s say an orange tree. Once planted it is supposed to produce oranges within one to four years, depending on the variety. But if any orange tree goes for ten, twenty years… without production, that is a “dead” orange tree no matter how beautiful its branches may look. When one has true faith, an alive faith, it will produce good deeds to benefit the needy. Remember, our good Lord Jesus Christ always stood with the poor.
In our association AMI, « Association pour la Mission Intégrée » AFRICAN MISSION INITIATIVE, we are challenging our friends to make sure that their faith is ALIVE not dead. We provide opportunities for each one who has really an alive faith to do something toward the needy. Our mission is primarily to ‘TRAIN PASTORS who did not have a chance to attend Bible School or Seminary; and to help with EDUCATION of young children in Africa in general and in Burundi particularly. Here are the giving opportunities:
Mother Theresa once said: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one”.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk. If you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward”. In other words, out of the items shown above, please choose what you can afford and do it. Jesus is still in the business of multiplication. Remember the history of the feeding of more than (women and children) 5,000 thousand people, with two fishes and five loafs of bread. May our good God bless us with the ALIVE Faith not the dead one!
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