James 2: 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
Belief in God is not enough. James says that it has to be more than this. James says that faith without works is dead or worthless.
James 2: 14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
John holds the same view. 1 John 3; 18Dear children,
let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.There seems to be a problem that both James and John see. Some people who call themselves Christian are not. They are counterfeits. James and 1 John both devote a great deal of space to describing what what authentic Christians look like and what false ones look like. The difference it seems is that false Christians are superficial. Their faith is shallow. It does not penetrate the heart and result in action.Love is a verb. To love is to act. Love cannot be held back. It must be shared. It leads us to want to help others. John says that Christian love is modeled after Jesus and his love was sacrificial. Love also leads us to obedience to God. This again is action.If our love is to be modeled after Jesus then it must be sacrificial, too. There is a cost associated with sacrifice. The cost for us is to put the interest of others ahead of our own. This is what Jesus did for us. Also love is based on grace. Jesus sacrifice was unmerited. We did not deserve it. God wants us to display his love and grace in the world. This should separate us from other people. We should be seen to be different in the way we treat people and in the way we act.Selfless love is rare. It is has great risk attached to it. Love is not always returned. We need to reach out to others even though we know that they will spurn us and even rebuke us for it. We need to do it in such a way that we do not expect a return. When it is returned then we can than God and give him the glory. When it is not returned we need to do the same and to release it and put it into his hands through prayer.I agree that we need to acknowledge Jesus, but we have to do it in such a way that it makes a difference in us and those around us.Blessings,Dunamite