You Say You Have Faith? Show Me!

Mike Hosey, Elder

You don’t have to have walked the earth for very long to figure out that human beings are liars.  We lie to other people. We lie to God.  But strangest of all, we lie to ourselves. Almost all of our reasons for this have to do with either protecting ourselves from our own folly, or moving ourselves to some desired goal we don’t deserve.  But perhaps one of the biggest reasons is that our words are too often cheap or shallow. No one has time for shallow words.

Once, I worked at an institution that required a Master’s degree in order to fulfill a particular position. One year a young woman was hired who claimed to have a Master’s degree.  It was easy for her to make that claim. Her words were cheap. But when the company got around to checking on those words a couple of months after the hire date, the value of her words was tested.  They were found to be dead words. She had no actions to back them up. In fact, she only had a few hours of college credit – not enough to earn even the lowest degree. Of course, she was fired.  This isn’t difficult logic. If a man comes to you and tells you that he is an artist, you might believe him.  But if you never see him produce any art, you will likely question the truth of his claim. An artist who has produced no paintings, no sculptures, no poems, no works of literature, no songs, no music or no creative expressions is not an artist, no matter how strong his claims are and no matter how many paints or paintbrushes that he owns.

James understood this well. In his letter (James 2:14) he questions a person who claims to have faith but doesn’t have works behind it.  This is because faith produces works.  If you believe your car is safe and that there is food at the grocery store, you will act on that faith and get in your car and go to the grocery store when you need food. If you believe the brakes in your car are unsafe, and that the grocery store is empty, you will act on that faith and find a different car and a different grocery store.  Hebrews 11:1-40 is devoted to the men and women of the Bible who did great works because their faith in God was real – they didn’t have time for shallow words!

Do you have faith in God? If so, how are you showing it? Even the smallest bit can do very great things (Luke 17:6).