“Oh, the deacon went down
In the cellar to pray.
He fell asleep
And he stayed all day.”
The song is a clever little commentary on pious appearances. The church person, the deacon, made a show of his piety by going in to pray. But the result was that nothing happened other than he fell asleep.
Unfortunately there are so many who think that faith begins and ends with how they look to others. We have far too many people in our churches who look good – like the deacon going to pray – but don’t live out their faith – falling asleep.
James has some strong words about living out your faith. He uses the example of a needy person confronting a faithful believer. If we as believers simply say that we want things to go well for the needy person, our heart goes out in sympathy to those who struggle, yet we do nothing then we haven’t truly lived out our faith.
All of our best intentions and holy thoughts and attitudes can be nice but they do nothing to share the love and mercy of God. When we fail to do anything about the situation the needy are in we are allowing our faith to fall asleep. James says that our faith is dead.
We must keep our faith awake. We must keep our faith alive. To do that we must put our faith into action. We must be willing to give of our time and efforts in helping those who are in need.
And when we feel that we are stretched beyond our ability, that we have given all we can and there is nothing left for us to do, we must trust that with God all things are possible. Nothing is impossible with God, and through Him we are able to give out of our poverty and enjoy the privilege of sharing with others.
DAILY CHALLENGE: How will you keep your faith alive and awake?
