“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” — James 1:22
“For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” — James 2:26
I’ve learned something about humans.
They sure can talk.
They talk about the weather.
They talk about work.
They talk about other humans.
And my human talks about Jesus quite a bit.
Now, I’m a dog.
I don’t talk much.
But I do pay attention.
And I’ve figured out that what somebody does tells you a whole lot more than what somebody says.
If my human says, “We’re going for a walk.”
I believe him.
If he says, “I’ll give you a treat when we get home.”
I really believe him.
But I’ve also learned that words don’t mean much until something happens.
A walk requires a leash.
A treat requires him reaching into that cabinet.
And faith?
Well, apparently faith requires more than talking about it.
The other morning, my human was sitting with his Bible, a highlighter, and coffee when he read something from James about faith without works being dead.
I lifted my head.
Dead?
That didn’t sound good.
He sat there quietly for a minute and finally said, “It’s easy to say what you believe. The hard part is living like you believe it.”
Now that made sense to this old dog.
See, I don’t have to tell my human I trust him.
I follow him.
When he calls, I come.
When he heads down a trail I’ve never been on, I go with him.
When I hear something go bump in the night, I may raise my head and growl a little—but if he says everything’s okay, I usually put my head back down.
Usually.
That’s trust lived out.
And maybe that’s what faith is supposed to look like.
We can say we trust God, but what happens when life takes a turn we didn’t expect?
We can say we believe God provides, but what happens when money gets tight?
We can say we believe in grace, but what happens when somebody needs ours?
We can say we love our neighbor, but what happens when our neighbor is difficult to love?
Sooner or later, what we say we believe has to make its way from our mouths to our feet.
Faith isn’t just something we talk about on Sunday.
It’s something we walk on Monday.
It shows up in how we treat people.
How we forgive.
How we give.
How we serve.
How we respond when life gets hard.
How we follow Jesus when we can’t see where the trail leads.
My human closed his Bible, finished his coffee, looked at me and said, “Come on, buddy.”
He didn’t have to explain.
I got up and followed.
Maybe that’s the lesson.
Don’t just say you believe.
Get up.
Follow Jesus.
Live it.
Because the strongest testimony may not be the faith we talk about…
It may be the faith somebody watches us live.
And this old dog figures if you truly trust the One leading you, eventually your feet ought to prove it.
Live what you say you believe.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
