Devotion: James 2:14-26: Are you responsive?

  14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 

15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 

16and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 

17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 

18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 

19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 

20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 

21Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 

22Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 

23And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 

24Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 

25Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 

26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

When I trained as an EMT  we are taught how to check and triage patients. It is a simple practice to do. One of the main things that you do is to check and see if they are responsive to any stimulation. If a patient is unconscious we can speak to them to try and see if they will wake up or we can pinch the muscle between the shoulder and the neck to see if they will respond. If they do then we can proceed with the inspection and treatment of the person,  If not we have to document them as such and will determine if the patient is dead or not. 

Lord, there are times where I have had dead faith. It has been lukewarm, or as medical professionals would call it warm and dead faith. I can have faith in your Lord, but what was I doing with it. and What am I doing with it now? What was my response to that faith? Where is the fruit of my faith in the Lord? I am not saying that I need to earn my salvation, or that I can lose it if I do nothing once I am saved. what I am asking is that, am I living in response to my Faith? Do I tremble as the demons do who believe? Do I act upon my faith and believeth like Rahab and Abraham, following the word of God? 

Lord help me today to act on my faith in you. Help me to respond daily to your word and to my faith in you. Responding to you once brought my salvation. and from that witnessing and preaching. Lord help my to continue to respond.