Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
In today’s world, we have a homeless crisis. Hopefully, if someone in the future reads this post, they will be surprised by this idea. In the future God has planned for us, homelessness is not a thing. Sadly, today it is a thing. A big thing.
When people come to Christ, we come from all walks of life. Sometimes we come with no worldly possessions. Other times we come with much more than we could ever use. Sometimes, like Job, Christians with possessions and money lose it all. Sometimes events overtake us and we are in need. Great need.
If a brother or sister in Christ is without clothes or food, what do you do?
James is not saying that we should go out and solve everybody’s problems. He doesn’t say, “Feed the world!” Instead, what he does say is that we should take care of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Does this mean that we do not have to worry about people outside of the church body? No. Rather James is using the example of poor brothers and sisters as low hanging fruit. These are the easy ones to pick out for help. Jesus would have us love our neighbor regardless of who they are or what they believe.
Brother or sister or not, the question remains: Do you walk by and say, “I hope you get enough to eat today”? Do you reach in your pocket and offer them some on-the-spot financial help? Do you stop what you are doing and find clothes for them and feed them?
We are all blessed with different gifts. A dozen believers might respond to this situation in a dozen different ways. The key that makes the difference is responding rather than just talking.
Application: Examine your attitude and response to poverty. Look for an opportunity to help someone this week.
Food for Thought: On the topic of talk instead of action, James asks the question ”what good is it”? Let’s flip the question and ask, ”What harm is there in all talk and no action”?
Good question to think about. If all we do is talk and action never follows, then even we do not believe what we are saying.
Exactly, Rich. I think the word for that is hypocrisy. That happens to be what a lot of people think of Christians because of this very question. Not exactly what our Lord would call good PR!
We deceive ourselves and become like the pharisees all talk judging hypocrites.