What is Faith

I am in a Bible study with my friends that meets twice a month.  My heart is so thankful for these ladies.  They truly have become family to me.  When we moved to Georgia I knew NO ONE...not a soul.  Leaving my best buddy, Jessy, was so painful.  Jess, if your reading this I love you beautiful.  Fortunately we keep in touch through social media and we even squeeze in the occasional vacation together (with our boys no doubt).  Many of you know me very well so you will think this is funny!  I regularly saw my physical therapist for overuse injuries from running.  Kristin and I became fast friends.  We talked about pretty much everything during our sessions.  I still remember her asking me why I thought my injuries flared up since the last time we met.  I advised her it could have been from running with ankle weights on.  She just looked at me and said, "why would you do that?!"  Then we both cracked up!  God sure can meet us right where we are at.  I actually didn't know anyone in Cincinnati when we moved there either and God provided me with two wonderful friends.  My hope is I offered them what they needed in a friend too.  Back to Georgia...

As I think about each lady in the Bible study I think of  what wonderful people they are in their own rights.  They all love Jesus!  Some I know better than others, but all of them are dear to me.  One woman, Beth, was my first friend here in Georgia.  She walked through the pain of my mom's death right beside me always offering an ear, a shoulder, or a few hours of child care for Eli.  Her daughter is Eli's age and they attend preschool together.  They also spend hours together in the child watch at the gym.  I just hope that I can return the favors to her one day when she needs. 

We are studying a Joyce Meyer book titled Be Anxious for Nothing.  I love Joyce!  The chapter is about how us believers are in  a war for rest.  Satan loves drama, worry, anxiousness, and he is the polar opposite of calmness.  The chapter also speaks of faith and how faith is a remedy for worry.  I got to thinking about what faith is.  It is one of those words you hear often, but it's meaning can be muddled.  To me faith is a confidence and trust in God.  It is believing He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do.  I believe Christian faith is active and not passive. 

James 2:18-26

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[a]? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[b] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I absolutely LOVE verse 19.  Wow.  Satan believes in God and knows He Is.  It is true that we cannot work our way to God.  We can tithe until we are blue in the face or take Communion everyday, but He knows our hearts.  He knows why we are doing a deed.  We do good deeds because we love Him and want to obey Him.  He commands us to love others and we are to show them God's love through good deeds.  I often do good out of obligation.  Again, He knows my heart. 

So what does this have to do with my prologue?  I got to thinking about being a friend and what that entails.  Faith is doing something and so is being a friend.  I think about Jessica and our hours at the gym, Coney Island, and barn together.  We pretty much covered all of life and then some.  We met soon before our departure from Cincinnati.  We joke that we had a whirlwind romance.  Then I think of Kristin and how I knew immediately she was a person of great character.  It was wonderful to get to know her so well even though she was working most of the time.  I live states away now but hope I left an impression on each of them. 

I know what I want in a friend, but am I offering that to another?  My friends here in Georgia have been incredible as I daily process the death of my mother.  They have also listened to me whine about my hormones and how I am going to throw every ounce of hormone out my kitchen window.  It was a rough day!  They commiserated with me when I broke my ankle and shin.  The thing is I do not want to be dead weight.  I do not want to be the heavy.  We all sat at the pool together all summer and laughed about pretty much everything!  Laughing together is part of friendship too.  When they are feeling heavy I want to be there and have, I hope.  Kristin (Georgia Kristin that is) would not be happy if I shared the details of our last conversation on here!

James 2:24) You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

A friend is considered a friend by what they do also.  Me saying I am a friend does not make me one just like me saying I am a Christian does not make me one.  It is what I do.