Faith by Works - James 2:14-18

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Faith without works isn't really faith at all. The reason is that although someone may believe with all their heart, if they don't act on that belief, it remains a simply a belief - it is not actuated into faith. It is said that belief is a function of the head while faith is a function of the heart. Belief is based on logic - we are convinced that a certain thing is true; and faith is based on intuition - we feel it in our bones so to speak.

Neal A. Maxwell observed the following correlation between knowledge and implementation:

... gaining knowledge and becoming more Christlike are two aspects of a single process. This process is part of being “valiant” in our testimony of Jesus. Thus, while we are saved no faster than we gain a certain type of knowledge, it is also the case, as Richard Bushman has observed, that we will gain knowledge no faster than we are saved. So we have a fundamentally different understanding of knowledge and truth—behaving and knowing are inseparably linked. So defined, the gospel is inexhaustible
because there is not only so much to know, but also so much to become!

In my estimation, once we understand something new; whether it be secular or spiritual knowledge; We must make it part of our everyday life and philosophy or that knowledge will either damn us or disappear. In short - use it or lose it!

In the quotation at the top James cites the example of helping the poor. Some may argue that God doesn't need us to perform work like caring for the poor because, being omnipotent, He is perfectly capable of doing the works Himself. - But that's not the point! God doesn't need any more practice at being godly; but we do. And that's why works are important. We need practice, and lots of it!

Again it will be argued that we are imperfect, and we can never hope to work our way to heaven, nor repay our savior for His everlasting sacrifice on our behalf. In other words, we are saved by grace and not by works. These are true statements. We are NOT saved by works! However, you have to ask yourself: why are we here? To believe and rejoice? An emphatic yes! But... we're also here to become something, not just believe something.

One of the best analogies I've heard on this subject is that of a mother who pays for piano lessons. Now, what does the mother want? She wants her child to learn the piano, and have the joy of making music. Now suppose that child feels an obligation to pay their mother back for her generous gift of paying for these piano lessons. What is the proper way for the child to pay their mother back? Should they get a job and try to earn money to reimburse their mother? Knowing that (for a child) making that much money would be very time consuming and difficult. No - that's not the right way. What the child should do is focus on using the mother's gift to the fullest extent possible. Be diligent in their piano practice, and study. The reason is that the mother will be so much happier attending her child's piano recitals than with a fat wad of cash.

The point of this analogy is that God has supplied us with life and all the necessities for learning and growing. In this plan, He even provided the Savior to cover for our mistakes and selfishness. He already owns everything, so he's not interested in being paid back in any way; (e.g. somehow working our way to heaven.) What He's interested in is us growing and being perfected.  So what's our best course of action? Would it be to believe, rejoice, and rest on our lees? Does that sound like the process of being perfected? No. We can only grow by putting into practice the things that He taught, the things that we believe - rolling up our sleeves "relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save" (continuous repentance) and going to work. That's what He wants. He wants to see us learn and grow and that's the only way... Truly faith without works is dead.