Faith & Works

Faith & 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
One man that showed his faith by his works was a German anti-Nazi preacher and founder of the German Confessing Church a man called Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
He helped many Jews to escape the death camps.
In October 1944, Bonhoeffer was placed in a Gestapo prison in Berlin. In February 1945, he was taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp, and then to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, where he was hanged on April 9, 1945, just a head of the camp being liberated by the Allied forces.
While in captivity he continued to minister to his fellow inmates up until his death.
Bonhoeffer was one of many Christians that at the risk of their own lives through those dark days of World War two in Germany showing their faith.
Jews needed rescuing and they did there best to help. When the western nations turned their back on the plight of the Jews.
They did so because it was the right thing to do. They did so because they knew God would want them to do so irrespective of the cost.
Today especially here in North America we have it good. We have freedom of speech, freedom to worship and many, many more freedoms not enjoyed by a large part of our brethren around the world.
We as Christians need to be reaching out to help our fellow Christians in the persecuted church. We need to help in the name of Jesus others in need around the world.
We who have freedom to write to our elected representatives need to be raising the plight of persecuted Christians and others around the world with them.
We need not only to be praying for those in need but doing what we can for them.
Think of it in these terms. Since you began reading this blog one Christian has died for their faith. Fourteen Christians will die every hour their only crime being Christians.
Millions of others are being pesecuted.
Every day there are Christians that are suffering for the sake of Christ. They know the consequences they face for believing yet still they believe.
Do you do your best to help those in need in your church and in your town or city in the name of Jesus?
Think about it.