Given the Opportunity

James 2:15-16 (The Message) Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

They are all around us: people who have need of one thing or another. Some need a strong and helping hand, some just need someone to talk to. They are all around us. But it is so easy to not notice them. We get caught up in our own lives and all that life can be. We walk right past them, and sometimes see the need, but have no time to stop and listen, or help, or just be near them. As a minister of Christ’s love, we should not only see the need, but also try to help the need be met. Those in need do not need good intentions or false generosity. Our words and actions mean nothing if what we say or do is for our own benefit—to make us feel proud that we have done our religious duty. For we know, it is not words or deeds on which the Lord alone looks, but on the heart. As we grow in Christ, our actions will flourish as acts that go beyond duty, motivated by the love of Christ in us.

May God Bless you EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY, ABOVE ALL YOU CAN ASK OR THINK!