Dead or Alive?
I was reading in James this morning and the Lord just sort of stopped me in my tracks and had me meditating on this passage.
"For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." (James 2:26)
James draws comparisons here between body and faith, and spirit and works. I must admit that I was perplexed at this comparison and got pretty excited when God began laying upon my heart some level of understanding on this passage. Let me just share what He laid upon my heart.
- The spirit dwells within the body just as works dwell within a life of faith.
- The spirit is that unique characteristic which sets humans apart from animals. Humans are made in God's image, having flesh and spirit, unlike animals, which are merely flesh. Comparatively, works (done for God's glory and for the benefit of others) are that characteristic that sets believers apart in the eyes of the world as those aliens who are born of God, spiritually made in Christ's image -- little Christs -- Christians.
- The spirit is breathed into the body by God at human conception just as good works are breathed into the life of one given faith by God at the new birth.
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)
James 2:26 is a glorious verse to help us to analyze our walk with Christ, friends. Are we dead or alive? Do our lives show evidence of a spirit born anew in Christ? Are we about the business of doing good works prepared for us beforehand by God? Are we looking to the world like the workmanship of God created in Christ? Or do we look like the pagans? I don't know about you, but this puts me flat on my face before the holy God of the universe, pleading with Him that He make me obedient.
"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you -- unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Corinthians 13:5)
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