Day 9

Matthew 25-28

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James 2:17 is one of the scriptures that I hear used out of context more than any other. You hear many Christians throw around “faith without works is dead” without understanding the context and the type of work James was referring to. You can better understand the context of this statement if you begin at the end of chapter 1: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James then begins chapter 2 by speaking about not showing partiality, which followed the same train of thought as taking care of those that have nothing to offer in return. From there, James exclaims that it does us no good to have faith without works. He then uses the example of, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” That is where we come to “Faith without works is dead.” In other words, you cannot divide your private religion and pure religion - and we know that pure religion is taking care of the widows and orphans. 

What does that have to do with today’s reading? 

In the “final judgment” section (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus speaks of this very thing. Jesus tells the righteous: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

We cannot afford to live self-centered lives. Even if we practice righteousness and follow every spiritual discipline to a tee, our righteousness will mean nothing when we stand before God. It is only by the blood of Jesus that we are redeemed. We must love God and our neighbor - and we must especially care for the marginalized. Whatever we do for the least of these, we do unto Him. How cool is that?