Faith without works is dead

   

The readings today tell us that indeed, faith without works is dead. The first reading says:

You see that faith was active along with his works,
and faith was completed by the works.Thus the Scripture was fulfilled that says,
Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God.
See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
For just as a body without a spirit is dead,
so also faith without works is dead.

Faith and works go hand in hand. One is not complete without the other. Faith should be accompanied by works – we should live our faith. It is not enough to profess our faith, yet back out when the time comes. It is not enough to say how great God is, but deny him in times of persecution. It is not enough to remember his power and mercy, yet live our lives as if we did not experience Him first hand. Abraham had faith, yes. However, faith alone was not enough. He lived his faith when God asked him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. He had faith in God and lived that faith, even if it was not easy, even if it did not make sense. God rewarded him for living that faith.

The gospel also reminds us to live our faith. In the words of Jesus:

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.

Deny ourselves, take up our cross… that’s preparation, that’s building our faith in Him, seeing things through God’s eyes, trusting him with our lives… Then Jesus asks us to follow him. Again, it was not enough we realize these things. IT is not enough to build our faith. We need to take action. We need to make a decision to live that faith to further strengthen it, to please God.

Do we live our faith? When it is not easy to follow God, even when it does not make sense, do we have faith in Him and obey, or do we want things done our way, feeling that we are more correct? Do we constantly live our lives in faith, or do we choose when to live our faith?

May we strengthen and live our faith, today and everyday!

God bless!