John and James sound very similar here: if you’ve got the goods and you keep it to yourselves when there is a brother in need, your faith is a sham.\u00a0 Sounds tough, but that’s really what is being said.\u00a0 John says it like this:<\/p>\n
if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet g <\/a>closes his heart against him, h <\/a>how does God’s love abide in him?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Translation?\u00a0 Your faith is a sham.<\/p>\n
James says it like this:<\/p>\n
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 <\/span>q <\/a>and one of you says to them, \u201cGo in peace, be warmed and filled,\u201d without giving them the things needed for the body, what good [2]<\/a><\/span> is that? 17 <\/span>So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Translation?\u00a0 Your faith is…you get the picture.<\/p>\n
Despite our tendency to talk up a lot about faith and trusting in God, unless we’re acting on our faith by taking care of those around us with what we have, we’re fooling ourselves.\u00a0 Remember where Jesus separated the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25<\/a>?\u00a0 Sheep were put on one side and goats on the other, the sheep heading to heaven and the goats to eternal punishment.\u00a0 What made the difference?\u00a0 It wasn’t simply a “profession of faith”…they all made that.\u00a0 It was what they did<\/em>.\u00a0 The sheep\u00a0actually acted on their faith and took care of the “least of these.”\u00a0 They put feet to what they said.<\/p>\n
We need to be a part of that Gathering Storm<\/a> of compassion in action so that we do not fall victim to heartless, faithless religion.\u00a0 “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”<\/em><\/p>\n