Sam
Elliott: A “Man’s man”, if I ever saw one (in the movies at
least). The kind of person that says what he means and means what he
says. In short, the rugged cowboy type. I can’t imagine him saying
a great deal, but when he speaks, people listen!
I
wish the world was full of straightforward people, but it is not.
Sometimes people talk a good game, but when it comes time to deliver
– NOTHING. Unfortunately, many people say that they are Christians,
but their lives say a different message. And, then there is that
passage from the book of James…
James
2 (World English
Bible)
Jam 2:14, What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith,
but has no works? Can faith save him?
Jam 2:15, And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily
food,
Jam 2:16, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and
filled;” and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs,
what good is it?
Jam 2:17, Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
Jam 2:18, Yes, a man will say, “You
have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works,
and I by my works will show you my faith.
Jam 2:19, You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also
believe, and shudder.
Jam 2:20, But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from
works is dead?
Jam 2:21, Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he
offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
Jam 2:22, You see that faith worked
with his works, and by works faith was perfected;
Jam 2:23, and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;”* and
he was called the friend of God.
Jam 2:24, You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not
only by faith.
Jam 2:25, In like manner wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified
by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out
another way?
Jam 2:26, For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so
faith apart from works is dead.
To
me, if you love God, you will do something about it. What each person
may do will probably differ, but they will do something. Something
that will have an effect in this world, for Christianity was never
meant to be just a religion of just contemplation. Talk is cheap:
Christian, practice what you preach. Jesus did; follow HIM!