It is true that we cannot earn our way to salvation by doing good things; only Christ’s death and resurrection has the power to save us. But it’s also true, as we explored on Monday, that real faith has an action component. As James so clearly explains, our faith can’t only live in our minds or even just our words; it must be evident in what we do also. In this way faith is like love. Genuine love is action, not just a thought or only “three little words.” Our faith is realized through how we pour out love on other people – the good we do for them.

Questions for further thought:
1. Check the “vital signs” of your faith. Is it weak and dying, strong and vibrant, or somewhere in between?
2. What can you do to pump some life into your faith?  

​Challenge: Don’t let the busyness of modern life choke out your faith. And don’t be overwhelmed thinking you must join a formal service opportunity constantly either. Chances to love on other people are presented to us every day as we go about our regular lives. Accept the Holy Spirit’s invitations as they arrive!

As believers, we pray for healing for people all the time, but how often have you asked God to bring someone back to life? I’m not sure the Lord wants us to pray for literal resurrections, but I do know he wants us to trust him with what seems impossible. Elijah had previously shown himself to be faithful in trusting God’s provision. When he asked for the unthinkable, God answered “yes!”

Questions for further thought:
1. Why do Christians tend to limit their prayers to what they think is possible?
2. What impossible thing does God want you to ask for?  

​Challenge: Start a prayer list/journal (or add to what you already have) and write down everything you’ve been wanting to pray for, especially what seems impossible. Then start praying consistently for these “crazy” requests. Exercise your faith muscles and be ready for his answer!

God illustrates often throughout the bible that he accepts anyone who seeks him. This was a completely new perspective for the Jewish believers after Christ’s resurrection.  Many gentiles were believing the Good News and being rewarded for their faith, much like the widow in our passage from yesterday. Just as Peter learned to welcome outsiders into the Church, so should we examine our hearts for prejudice and remember how the Lord loves to use unlikely candidates for his purposes.

Questions for further thought:
1. Is there a group of people that you think don’t belong in the body of believers? 
2. What reasons do you have for this belief? Does scripture support your perspective?  

​Challenge: Read Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus himself commands us to “make disciples of all nations” which could also be translated as “all peoples.” There shouldn’t be anyone we aren’t willing to tell about the love of Christ and the freedom we experience through him!

Even though the widow of Zarephath was a gentile and likely didn’t worship the Lord, God used her to care for his “fugitive” prophet, Elijah. But she had to choose to step out in faith when Elijah made the shocking request that she feed him first with the last of her supplies – during a severe famine! It must have been very hard for her as a mother to trust the prophet’s words and give everything she had.

Questions for further thought:
1. When have you felt what God was asking of you was beyond reasonable?
2. What result did you experience when you took a leap of faith? Or…how did you feel when you shied away from that action?  

​Challenge: More than likely there is something that the Holy Spirit has been nudging you to do that may cause discomfort, anxiety, or even fear. Meditate on who the Lord is: his character, sovereignty, and power. Pray for the courage to be faithful and follow his lead!

Faith is not as easily defined as we might like. The world says that faith is a belief in something or someone. Long ago, my youth pastor used the following illustration. He placed a chair in the middle of the room and asked each of us if we believed it would hold us up. Then he explained how belief is only part of faith and asked who was willing to actually sit in the chair, thus proving their trust in it. As the many examples of faithful people in Hebrews chapter 11 show, there is an action component required for true faith.

Questions for further thought:
1. How would you define faith?
2. What characteristics of a person’s faith mark it as genuine?  

​Challenge: Verse 6 says, “…it is impossible to please God without faith.” Sounds like knowing what faith means is fairly important! Do some soul searching (journaling, prayer, etc.) to determine if you are exhibiting real biblical faith. And stay tuned this week for more great examples!

Picture a little girl sitting contentedly on Jesus' lap. She's smiling shyly as Jesus speaks to her. Picture grubby hands smearing Jesus' clothes as another little one tries to climb onto Jesus' lap. Picture parents looking nervously but happily at their children, hoping they'll behave while they're with the rabbi. Picture the disciples, stunned at something Jesus has just said.
The disciples had been chasing these parents and their little ones away, assuming that Jesus had more im¬por¬tant things to do than hang around with little children. But Jesus had rebuked them for rebuking these parents; he had opened his arms wide to the children; and he had said that the kingdom of God belongs to people like these little ones! That left the disciples scratching their heads once again. What did Jesus mean when he said this about children? Was he talking about innocence? No. If you have children of your own, you know there is no such thing as an innocent child! What Jesus loved about children was that they are especially good at needing, asking, and receiving. Jesus loves that! He loves people who have no illusions about self-sufficiency, who instead know they are absolutely helpless and need the Lord. They are the kind of people who are welcome in his kingdom!

Questions for further thought:
1. In what ways am I like the little child Jesus describes?
2. In what ways am I like the disciples?

Challenge: Pray this prayer out loud…Lord, kill off my self-sufficiency and self-importance. Make me like a little child in all the right ways so that I too may find a place on your lap. In your name, Amen.

In almost every church you can meet people like the widow in Luke 21, who, according to the Lord Jesus, give out of their poverty. Some of them have hardly enough for themselves, but it never occurs to them not to give. No public buildings will ever be named in their honor, but Jesus says they may well be giving more than people who donate thousands or millions of dollars out of their wealth. Some believers will never lead worship, chair a committee, or pray in public. But many faithfully pray each day for the needs of other people, send cards, make visits, and do other helpful things. Few are ever acknowledged or recognized--except by the Lord. He sees people like the widow who, while giving out of her poverty, gave more than others. And someday the Lord will commend them before those of us who often get recognized because we are in the limelight now. All of us are called to give according to what we've been given.

Questions for further thought:
1. Describe a situation when you gave out of your poverty. How did you respond?
2. Now think about a time when you gave out of your abundance? How was it different?

Challenge: Pray this prayer…Lord, thank you for the many believers who give out of their poverty. Bless them, O Lord, and help us all to give generously for your sake, knowing your great love for us. Amen.

The confession in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus will return “to judge the living and the dead” puts us on edge. Not too many of us like evaluations. We dread our yearly physical. We put off the yearly job review with our boss. So, even more intimidating is a comprehensive life review when we stand before the all-knowing Lord. And it’s even more shocking to discover that this judgment at the King’s return is based on our deeds! How can this be? What happened to salvation by grace through faith? Jesus’ parable offers insight. When we stand before our Lord, the issue of our relationship with him is not forgotten. In fact, the real question is whether we have taken him so seriously that we begin to see his image in others and to act as he would. For the grace that saves us also renews us. It opens our eyes to see the hurts of needy people and to show them God’s love. On Judgment Day, Jesus doesn’t just throw our good deeds on one side of the scale and our bad deeds on the other. That would be salvation by works, not grace. But Jesus will look to the way his grace has so penetrated our hearts that it has made a difference in our lives. And he promises that God will remember for eternity every act of service performed by his power and to his glory.

Questions for further thought:
1. In what ways do you see yourself as a sheep, a goat?
2. What contrast do you see between grace and works in this passage? How do they work together?

Challenge: Pray this prayer aloud…Lord, help me not to wait until your return to do a life review. Help me to begin now. Make me an instrument of your peace to others, in your name and for your sake. Amen.

The Samaritan who stopped to help the robbed and beaten man had every reason to look the other way and pass by on the other side. The victim was a Jew, and Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other. Any self-respecting Jew would rather walk several extra miles than risk running into a Samaritan. And Samaritans felt the same way. In spite of that, the Samaritan reached out to help the Jew. He bandaged his wounds, put him on his own donkey, and took him to an inn. He even offered to pay for additional expenses the innkeeper might incur. He was willing to interrupt his schedule and use his own resources to help someone in need. Why would this man stop and help when two religious leaders refused to do anything at all? What is it that drives many people today to lend a helping hand, open their homes, reach into their wallets, or interrupt their schedules to help someone in need? The answer is that they have compassion. In this parable, among other things, we are being called to live with the kind of compassion God has shown us in Jesus. He came to help and restore us when we were down and out, even though we were his enemies (see Romans 5:10).

Questions for further thought:
1. Do you follow Christ’s example and show compassion to others?
2. To whom or what can I point to corroborate my story?

Challenge: Pray this prayer aloud… Lord Jesus, keep us from judging anyone who is down and out. Help us to show others the compassion you have shown to us. We pray in your name. Amen.

"A Samaritan ... came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him." Luke 10:33. The lawyer in Jesus' story is sharp. He reads the fine print and wonders who has a claim on his time and on his life. Each of us might be tempted to do the same: Who really has a claim on me, especially in a needy world that is so impersonal? Jesus tells a story to enlarge our definition of what a neighbor is. He tells a story about a good Samaritan who cares for a hurt Jewish man because he wants the story to hit home to his listeners. In those days Jewish people thought that the only good Samaritan was a dead Samaritan. Even Jesus' disciples thought so (see Luke 9:51-56). Samaritans were despised and considered the lowlifes of society. In Jesus' story, two religious leaders see the wounded man, but they walk around him because they don't want to get involved and don't want to be late or made unclean for their religious duties. But when the good Samaritan comes upon the victim, he stops and approaches the wounded man. Being the presence of Jesus in our world today means getting up close to the needs of the world. We need to overcome racial barriers, religious, social, and economic differences. We need to be with people who may be different from us so that we can show Jesus' heart of compassion.

Questions for further thought:
1. What are some of the first clues that we are predisposed to selfishness?
2. What are some practical steps of accountability that could help prevent you going down that path?

Challenge: Pray this prayer…Lord, we confess that we really dislike feeling obligated to others. But your claim of love on us calls us to show your love to others. Help us do that today. In your name, Amen.