Get on Offense, Friday, February 18, 2011

Reading: James 2:14-18, 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

When I was playing sports in high school and college, we always cringed when the coach sat us down to talk to us about his desire to make sure that we were in better shape than the other team. Often, it would be before a game when all of us, including the coach, knew that the other team that we would be playing had more speed and more talent than we did. There were many times that if we weren’t in extremely good shape, we would find ourselves back on defense the majority, if not, all of the game. It’s pretty hard to win a game, if you aren’t even down on the offensive end to score. For some reason, we are that way in our Christian lives. We sit and let the game come to us. When something arises, we play a little defense, until the problem or challenge goes away. Then, we just continue to do our thing until the next challenge comes again. The Christian life is supposed to be filled with offense and defense. This is why James is so dogmatic about stating, “I will show you my faith by my works.” The defense is “the shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16) and the offense is living it through the Word of God, your works.

How is your offensive game? What works are you performing that are reflections of your faith?


What will you do today to get on offense and start showing the works that substantiate your faith?

REVIEW

What did you do today to get in the game and play some offense?


Tell about the efforts you made or victories you won through your offensive effort today?