JAMES DAY 17 - But I Didn't Do Anything

DAY 17
BUT I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!
James 2:14-17

“But I didn’t do anything!”

You’ve heard this if you’ve ever had or worked with kids. “You didn’t take out the trash, wash the dishes, put your books away.” And they say, “But I didn’t do anything!” And you say, “THAT’S THE POINT!”

James illustrates what “faith without deeds” looks like with a little story in v.15-17. Imagine a fellow Christian says, “I’m hungry. My fridge is empty and I don’t get paid for a week,” and you say, “I’ll pray God feeds you,” but you don’t feed him. Your faith does him no good.

James pivots away from thinking about my faith’s effect on me and my salvation to my faith’s affect on others. That’s a hard turn for many of us because our culture - even our American church culture - encourages me to think about me. We hear a lot about self-care. Spirituality focuses on how it helps me be happy and peaceful and productive. But James says, “If your faith doesn’t help your neighbor, your faith doesn’t help you.” 

Did you also notice that James talks about what we’re not doing, not something awful we did do. We call this a “sin of omission” because we omit to do something good (its partner is “sin of commission,” something we commit). Did I have the opportunity to help? Did I have the ability to help? If so, why didn’t I help? By highlighting sins of omission, James urges us to be proactively helpful.
 
This lines up exactly with Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. If you want Jesus 101, read the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. Jesus says in Mt. 7:12, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” 

“Do to others” is one big step beyond “don’t to others.” To successfully “don’t do to others,” I just have to leave you alone - binge Netflix and order takeout. But to obey Jesus, I have to look for opportunities to help and bless. I have to do something.

REFLECT
How does “sin of omission” change how you think about your responsibility to others?

PRAY
Lord, you could leave us alone in the mess we’ve made - but you don’t. Don’t let me “get tired of doing good.” Show me how to be proactively helpful. Amen.