8/17 - Faith: Part 1

Hey everyone!
Today I'm going to start writing about James. It is personally one of my favorite books of the Bible, and it has some good stuff in there that all Christ followers should read and know. James is really like the Proverbs of the New Testament; it largely focuses on the ethics of the Christian faith, and more specifically, our actions and how we as Christians are to behave. One key word that you'll see throughout this is "faith". Faith is definitely something that is hard to grasp and understand, especially for a non-believer who does not have a personal relationship with Christ. Here's how Hebrews 11:1 defines faith:
"The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see." (The Message)


Most of you have heard the verse go like this:
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (NIV)

In The Message version, faith is simply our "trust in God" and our "handle on what we can't see". We cannot physically see God, but we believe He is there and we put our trust in Him regardless. It sounds kind of crazy, doesn't it? That we would put out trust in someone who we can't even see and someone who we have a hard time proving His existence? The great thing about this is that, even though we cannot see or touch God, when we put our trust in God and live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to Him, He rewards us every time. He truly blesses me in these situations, and this is how I know He does really exist.
Because it would be kind of ridiculous to talk about the whole book of James in one post, I'm going to split it into 5 parts, one part for each chapter.
Chapter 1 of James is a personal favorite of mine. Here James begins by telling us how we can overcome the testing of our faith and the temptations the devil throws at us, and then, starting around verse 19, he ends the chapter by telling us how we can show our faith through our actions.
Here's the whole chapter (in The Message):

1 I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello!2 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.3 You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.4 So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.5 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it.6 Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves.7 Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way,8 adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.9 When down-and-outers get a break, cheer!10 And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don’t ever count on it.11 You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that’s a picture of the “prosperous life.” At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.13 Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way.14 The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.15 Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.16 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course.17 Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. 18 He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.19 Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.20 God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger.21 So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.22 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!23 Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror,24 walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.26 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. 27 Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

James loves to use metaphors! (Look it up if you don't know what those are..) I like that because it helps to paint a picture of what he's really talking about. James is telling us that when we are tempted, this is when our faith is really tested. God tempts us as a way to test us..He wants to see how faithful we really are to Him. Pray to God and ask Him to help you defeat your temptations instead of trying to do it all on your own! Those who manage to overcome their temptations with God's help are the ones who are truly loyal to Him, and they are the ones who will be rewarded with life and more life. In the second part of the chapter, James tells us to act on what we hear. If we hear a voice in the back of our heads telling us to help a stranger out or to be a friend to someone who may not have many friends, act on it instead of simply ignoring it. If we simply talk the talk and not walk the walk as well, then we really aren't doing our jobs as Christians! Saying you are a Christian without living a Christian life is pretty pointless and self-deceiving.
If you have any questions about this, please leave me a comment! I'll try to answer them the best I can.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next 4 parts in my faith series.
God Bless!
Kyle