Faith Justified by Works - James 2:21-24

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Without works, our faith remains something abstract, intangible and unrealized. When our faith is tried, it is through actions that our faith is manifest. Indeed faith may exist in ones heart, but it cannot be perfected until we act on that faith. Faith should be the driving factor in our lives if it is to be perfected.

Abraham is the perfect example. He obviously believed in God before the command to sacrifice Isaac came. But it is really his reaction to the command that proved and solidified his faith. Acts of faith bring us closer to God. The acts of Abraham were the factor that brought him to be called the friend of God!

The Faith-Belief Dichotomy - James 2:19

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

 There is a difference between faith and belief. As has been pointed out before: faith is a function of the heart while belief is a function of the head. These two could also be thought of as zeal and knowledge, or passion and logic. You actually need equal proportions of both. As James points out - the devils also believe in God. But what good does that do them? While they have belief in God as sure or more sure than any man, their works run contrary to that belief because they serve not God.

There is a dance that occurs between faith and belief. Belief seems to come first as knowledge of certain things. Belief is composed of the totality of the knowledge that we feel is true. And this set of knowledge represents our unique lens through which we view and interpret the world.

Faith on the other hand is the actuation of that knowledge. For instance, I may have a belief that God wants me to be kind. That is a true principle. But supposing I know it, but decide not to strive for kindness. My actions do not reflect my belief, and thus my faith in that thing is taken away.

I personally believe that God is all-powerful, answers prayers, watches over us and helps us. I believe He has gifts to give at any moment to those who exercise faith. And yet I have tendencies to try and rely on my own knowledge and strength; to forget the gifts that are available. This shows a lack of faith on my part because although I believe that He can do anything, I don't act like He can.

I believe that God can send angels to minister unto men and perform miracles, and yet do I act like He does? Do I really expect to see those things in my own life? Or do I have some notion that those blessings somehow apply to the prophets and the special few but not to myself?

Truly belief and knowledge are actuated by works - faith and zeal. As we shape our perception and beliefs, we must act according to those beliefs or we don't have faith, and are in danger of losing that belief which we do have.

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.

The Poor of the World are Rich in Faith - James 2:5-9

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

To be poor of this world is almost a requirement to be rich in faith. I'm not necessarily talking about physical possessions, I'm talking about priorities. Remember that "... the love of money is the root of all evil."(1 Timothy 6:10) and "the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word..." (Matthew 13:22) Now, having sufficient for our needs is no sin, it is only when our focus is on material things that we are in danger of losing faith.

Brigham Young said:

...it is a folly for a man to love gold and silver, goods and chattels, or any other kind of property and possessions. One that places his affections upon such things does not understand that they are made for the comfort of the creature, and not for his adoration.

And yet we are so often prone to "adore" our possessions. How much time do we spend picking out a smartphone, selecting a new watch, a new car and insuring those possessions? We even aspire to insure against death... (as if that were possible). The bulk of our lives are spent in procuring and seeking to "enjoy" wealth. We go to school, intending to gain knowledge, and yet somewhere along the way our intent gets converted into "making a living". Once we land a job, we are inundated with deadlines, brown nosing and climbing the corporate ladder. We spend more time "supporting a family" than we do spending time with them.

Don't get me wrong, we absolutely must support ourselves by work. Indeed, it is an important part of His plan - "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground" (Genesis 3:19). Paul also says: "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (1 Timothy 5:8) Indeed, we must have material things in order to provide a stable life for ourselves and our families. It is a catch-22. We have to have some wealth in order to accomplish the purpose of our life, and yet we must be immune to its corrosive effects. It is a rather cleverly devised test of priorities and faith.

So we must work and obtain wealth for various reasons, but what should we work for? Here are a few hints:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:23-26)

But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish. (2 Nephi 26:31)

...if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:30-33)

And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted. (Jacob 2:19)

Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich. (D&C 6:7)

For true seekers of faith; seeking after riches is not an option. Money and material possessions are only a means to an end, they do not bring happiness, but are a necessity to obtaining the great riches He has in store for us. It is simply a question of priorities: Are you looking for credit and personal gain, or are you looking for the kingdom of God?

Jesus told the rich man: If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (Matthew 19:21) I believe we miss out on great blessings when we hoard our excess wealth. If we have faith, we trust that He will take care of us; and by being generous with our excess to those in need we obtain even greater treasures - treasures in heaven. We'll find that there are really hidden treasures available when we truly care nothing for the things of this world. And once we can accomplish that, we can cease to worry about them because: "all these things shall be added unto [us]."(Matthew 6:33)

Let Him Ask in Faith - James 1:5,6

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

It is imperative that we remember to pray. Prayer is not reciting a rote memorized script such as the Lord's prayer (although it could be on occasion if our heart is in it). Nor does it have to take hours. Actually, it should only take as long as is needed to say what He needs us to say. It sounds weird, but prayer usually starts out as us trying to say what is in our hearts, and should end up with us saying what He desires us to say.

This scripture sates that we should approach Him with faith. But faith typically requires some knowledge from Him. In the very least, it should be some notion of what is right, but may be a strong assurance of His will. The more knowledge we attain of His will pertaining to a certain thing, the stronger our faith in it should be. I don't believe He expects us to have faith in anything until He grants us knowledge of the thing to be faithful in. Prayer perhaps is the art of obtaining the will of God and asking for it to be done.

When our assurance that the thing we're praying for is right is not firm, the prayer becomes a wrestle. "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12) "I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God..." (Enos 1:2) Prayer is usually perceived as us attempting to change the mind of God, but to the sufficiently humble, it is usually a process of offering to let Him change us.

A further principle that is important to latch onto, is that honesty and real intent is always required.

Moroni 6:8
But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.
Moroni 7:6
For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
Moroni 7:9
And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.
Moroni 10:4
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
2 Nephi 31:13
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ,..

Note that the wrestle is not with us and God, it is a wrestle within ourselves - A wrestle to subdue the natural man, to receive the power and grace needed to align our will with His, and having obtained it, to have faith to follow through.

"I pray... Not that it changes God, it changes me"
- C.S. Lewis

The Battle for Faith is Won By Patience - James 1:2-4

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Patience is a virtue as they say, and indeed it appears that patience is a very important virtue since it is required for us to be perfected. And apparently the way to get it is to have our faith tried via temptation. It would seem that each temptation that approaches us is a battle with a prize. To the victor go the spoils. Each battle won results in strengthening of faith and patience and progression toward perfection; Each battle lost is a backsliding toward faithlessness.

We should never feel guilty when tempted - even the Lord was tempted; instead we have to recognize that it is a temptation and steel ourselves against it. The amount and type of temptations that we experience does not matter, what matters is our reaction to it. Like the Lord, when the temptation arises, we can immediately put it in its place as when He said: Get the behind me Satan. A phrase that He uttered more than once.

In these battles, everything is at stake - literally salvation and eternal life. But should we lose some (and we inevitably will) we should never give up hope. Because it is for this very reason that the Lord suffered, bled and died - beauty for ashes, joy for mourning. But that is never an excuse to give in to temptation; remember the sore trials of the prodigal. He wasted everything and was still accepted of his Father, but if only he had avoided the waste in the first place!

The Author and Finisher of Our Faith - Hebrews 12:1,2

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 The author of Hebrews now finishing his list of faithful saints, gives us the ultimate example. It is interesting that (in my experience at least) we seem to list many of the prophets and saints when talking about faith, but fail to list the Savior himself. But the truth is that although He is the Son of God, it still took great faith to perform the works that he did. And as Paul reminds us, ultimately enduring the cross.

His faith was such that he knew against all doubt, the joy that awaited Him and all people if he could endure to the end of His mission. I don't suppose it was any easier for Him than it is for any of us to keep the commandments, and go against the ways of the world, the urgings of the flesh and ultimately the tides of darkness. I don't suppose for a moment that His being the Son of God made it any easier; in fact may have (and apparently did) made the opposition against Him all the stiffer. Which makes His ultimate triumph all the greater.

Yes, He endured the ultimate trial of Faith. The translation in the KJV says he "endured the cross, despising the shame", but in other translations is rendered "disregarding the shame". In other words, He had the strength to see that the things that the world values are only a facade. That even torture and death are but a small thing compared to indulging in sin. And all the shame the world tried to heap upon Him for his faithfulness, He disregarded, He simply shrugged off, and quietly "went about His Father's business".

I pray that He will grant us faith and grace so that we can follow in His footsteps.

We Can Only Pass the Test Through Faith - Hebrews 11:39,40

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

At first glance, this statement appears somewhat problematic. Because it appears to be saying that those of faith, while "obtaining a good report" through their faith, didn't receive the blessings attached to that faith. I submit that this is not the meaning of the scripture, but that they did receive the fullness of the promises proffered to them through their faith but perhaps the fulfillment of certain of the promises were not realized in this life.

Furthermore, let us not assume that because many of the early (and contemporary) saints were persecuted, buffeted and slain, that they did not receive the fulfillment of God's promises to them. Firstly, just because God allowed (as we assume) bad things to happen to them, does not mean that He was not fulfilling His promise. Because this life is both a test and a school, sometimes it is a school of hard knocks. God is more interested in building character and creating saints out of us than in making life easy for us - which would defeat His purposes in many cases. Often it is the very sufferings of the saints that make them into something that God considers valuable.

We must remember that in God's eyes, easy climbs, sunny walks and even survival are not nearly as important as grit, character and salvation. Indeed, the test that God has in store for us will test the very mettle of our souls - because the real promises he has in store require true grit and character to enjoy. So if you are a professor of faith, prepare for adventure and a bumpy ride.

C.S. Lewis provided this analogy:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

G.K. Chesterton provided this insight:

Even when I thought, with most other well-informed, though unscholarly, people, that Buddhism and Christianity were alike, there was one thing about them that always perplexed me; I mean the startling difference in their type of religious art. I do not mean in its technical style of representation, but in the things that it was manifestly meant to represent. No two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese temple. The opposition exists at every point; but perhaps the shortest statement of it is that the Buddhist saint always has his eyes shut, while the Christian saint always has them very wide open. The Buddhist saint has a sleek and harmonious body, but his eyes are heavy and sealed with sleep. The mediaeval saint's body is wasted to its crazy bones...

My good friend Dr. Katanuma provided this insight (paraphrased):

The Buddhist says: I love nobody, and nobody loves me - this sounds terribly peaceful because he doesn't have to care about anyone or anything. But oh, to miss out on the splendidness of love!

In short, God's plan for us is no walk in the park, it is an adventure of the grandest sort. And come what may, we can rest assured that He always fulfills all of His promises, ofttimes through sore trial and suffering but they are always fulfilled in His own due time. If we are mindful, we will still have joy and exquisite satisfaction in this life to see what kind of a person He is making out of us. The truly faithful wait on Him, with a surety that come what may, whether in this life or the next, He will fulfill all of his promises.