Imagine someone could watch your life like a movie - but the whole thing was on mute.
No sound.
They couldn’t hear what you were saying; they could only observe what you did.
What do you think they would conclude about you?
By the way you use your time, the way you spend your money, the way you share your possessions, would it be clear that you trust in and serve the Lord Jesus?
It’s a confronting exercise, because it forces us to wrestle with whether our faith is merely lip service — empty words coming out of our mouths, or a whole-of-life commitment to Jesus that is clearly seen in the way we live.
We’ve just returned from the Equip Conference, and this week I’ve had the privilege of reflecting deeply on James 2:14–26 with a small group as we learned how to read the Bible for ourselves and faithfully teach it to others.
This passage presses us to consider whether our faith and our lives are actually in sync. James’ concern is simple but searching: a faith that saves will also be a faith that transforms, not just what we think and say, but how we act.
"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:14-17)
James challenges the idea that faith can remain private, internal, or merely verbal. He insists that genuine faith expresses itself in love, generosity, and practical care for others. In other words, what we truly trust in will always show up in how we live.
So the question for each of us is this: is your faith in Jesus a living faith, a faith that saves?
And if you sense a gap between what you believe and how you live, what’s the solution?
It’s not simply to try harder or pile up more good deeds.
The answer is to go back to Jesus. To go deeper into the gospel. To loosen our grip on the things of this world and to surrender ourselves again to Jesus, the one who brings dead faith to life and continues his transforming work in us.
Grace & peace,
Andrew