Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Faith into Action

Giving, not showing favoritism, putting our faith into action. I have recently been doing a study in the book of James. Studying a couple verses a day really helps to make time to focus on what the verses are saying. We are using the S.O.A.P method to study each of the day’s verses. Using this acronym gives specific things to look into in each verse. The A for application has brought these last couple days into light.

“In the same way faith by itself if not accompanied by action is dead.” James 2:17
When reading this verse and focusing on the application I really had to stop and think. Am I putting my faith into action? Am I actually doing things that would show my faith?

After this week I have felt so convicted. Am I not doing enough, or am I not doing as much as I could, or should be doing. Then I think where can I go & what can I do? It all seems so daunting…the world both locally around me and way farther then I will ever know there is so much need. And when seeing all this it is hard not to wonder what difference can I make?

On the Good Morning Girls blog this week, Angela   posted a video and in it she said it is not our job to  save the whole world that is up to God. But we can make a difference in one person’s life. How true this is. Even with such simple things like a kind word, or other bigger things like helping someone financially.
It is not about saving the world it is about putting our faith into action however God is calling us in our life. This realization has had me asking what it is I am supposed to be doing. But I also think I have gotten stuck in the asking instead of just acting. There it is again putting my faith into action. I know that if I just act God will make it all work for his good.

And don’t think that putting our faith into action has to cost a lot of money. I have kind of had in the back of my mind that we give as much as we can. But there are so many things we can do to just help and not have to spend so much money.

I follow the blog Give Every Day. The Sheaffer family recently sold everything they had bought an rv and left their comfy life in Arizona to travel across the US giving every day. Of course this sounds very extreme and obviously God is not calling everyone to pack it up and travel the country. But reading their blog post of what they have done that day to give has opened my eyes. Because they were doing this on such a huge scale I anticipated their daily giving to seem so impossible to the average person living their comfy lives at home. However, each day I have been pleased to see that their giving has been so doable while leaving an  impact. They have been doing things like leaving a thoughtful comment on a blog or for an author, donating a few items to a food bank, buying a small gift for a cashier & volunteering time at a local not for profit. Anyone can do these things!!

So what are you doing to put your faith into action? I would love to hear how you give or volunteer. We are taking the leap to put our faith into action. We will be actively looking for ways to give. 


1 comment:

  1. I agree so much with the sentiments in this post. We can't do EVERYTHING, but we can do SOMETHING.

    When Tim & I first dreamed up Give Every Day, we imagined "bigger" projects too...but it's been neat to see how God has changed that. We don't have a ton of money or a ton of time (plus, we have 2 little girls w/ us at all times) so sometimes our gifts seem so MICROSCOPIC - but we are slowly learning that even the tiniest gestures matter.

    stephanie@metropolitanmama.net

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