Obedience Follows Faith
Wednesday - February 3rd
Devotionals from the Book of James
Scripture to Read Today: James 2:14-26
But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven,
"Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said.
"Do not do anything to him.
Now I know that you fear God, because you have not
withheld from me your son, your only son."
Genesis 22:11-12
At age 75, Abraham and his wife Sarah left their homeland of Ur of the Chaldees for the land promised them by Jehovah God. Abraham was promised a son through whom God would birth a nation. That nation would become a blessing to all nations. We now know that historic nation as Israel. The Israelite, Jesus of Nazareth, became the redeemer for all humanity. He fulfilled the promise God gave Abraham and Sarah.
We look back at the story and know how the promise played out. When Abraham and Sarah left for the land promised them by God, they were elderly and had no children. So, the prospect of conceiving and giving birth to a child seemed impossible. But they believed God - even after times when they struggled in their faith. Isaac's miraculous arrival occurred when Abraham was 100 years of age and Sarah was 90. Humanly, they appeared to be giants of faith for their patience and trust in their God.
God, however, had a test for Abraham when his son was a young man. Genesis chapter twenty-two tells the incredible and often criticized story of a father's extraordinary faith. While the Bible does not give Isaac an exact age when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son on Mount Moriah, many clues point to Isaac being about 13-14 years of age. The elderly father prepared the altar and was about to offer his son of promise as an act of obedience when God stopped him. God provided a ram for the sacrifice and commended Abraham for his obedience that revealed his faith's authenticity.
In the New Testament, James uses Abraham as the perfect example of how our obedience gives evidence of our faith. James 2:20-24 describes how we, like Abraham, show our faith's authenticity by following the commands of God's Word. Our obedience does not lead to our salvation, but our obedience reveals to us and others how genuine our salvation in Christ is.
Do you seek to walk in obedience to Christ as the outgrowth of your faith? If not, James warns you that your lack of obedience may reveal your lack of salvation. If you seek to follow Christ and His commands, your obedience provides evidence to you and others that your faith is genuine.
Obedience to Christ doesn't save anyone. Obedience follows genuine saving faith!