Faith and Works

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. -- James 2:14-17

People present so far -- Project leaders, team leaders, D-group leaders

After a couple hours of meetings, everyone grabbed some lunch and then everyone moved the girls into their apartments. This is a good opportunity for you young men out there to learn something. ALWAYS move the women in first for a few reasons. First, God wants us to serve others. Second, most women will be in a better mood if they don’t have to worry about their living arrangements (they think, and thus worry more than us guys). Third, if the women aren’t happy, it’s HIGHLY unlikely that you’ll be happy. We (the male D-group leaders) weren’t able to move in yet because of the foul odor that resided in our room. To make a long story short, we moved in the bare essentials (toiletries, a couple changes of clothes, bedding) after dinner and prayer walking.

After dinner at Mellow Mushroom (known for its pizza, not mushrooms), the group split into smaller groups of three to four people and did some prayer walking. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, it’s self-explanatory. You pray while you walk. We walked around downtown Asheville and prayed for the people of the city, the participants, and whatever else the Spirit led us to pray about. There were four young men in my group including myself. Each of us had prayed aloud once, and Zach had just finished his prayer by asking the Lord to help us “maybe just brighten someone’s day.” No more than three minutes passed by when we encountered a homeless man. His name was James (interesting Scripture reference huh?) and he needed some money for gas. We introduced ourselves, and talked with him as we walked the five blocks back to our vehicle. We found out that he installed carpet for a living, and had fallen on hard times. After gaining James’ trust, we swung the conversation to the spiritual realm, asked him some questions. As far as we could tell, James is a believer in Christ.

It was a pretty neat experience to put our money where our faith is and buy James a couple gallons of gas (we filled up the gas can he had with him and drove him to his van). James was grateful, and we got to share our faith and pray for him. Jesus said that, “Whatever you’ve done to the least of these, you’ve done unto me (Matthew 25:40).” He also said that “all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35).” God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. A major theme of the Gospels is love, especially for the poor. The next time that someone needs my help, I pray that I will love others as Jesus did, with deeds and not just words.

Thanks for your support, and please pray for James, the project, and the people of Asheville.

Matt Wilson