If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 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? Thus also faith by itself, if it does have works, is dead.

James 2:15-17 (NKJV)

It seems like every study I open lately God is using to emphasize to me the difference between faith and feelings. It’s no secret that we all have feelings and that many times we are moved by our feelings.

• We feel inspired by the pastor’s sermon.
• We feel moved by a worship song.
• We feel sad when we hear someone’s troubles.

These are all very common and natural reactions to emotion-inducing stimuli, and while they are a vital part of worship and believing, they do not by themselves necessarily represent faith.

Faith is being inspired by the Word of God through the pastor’s sermon and actually DOING something about it, trusting God more by giving a full tithe, serving others more by teaching a class, seeking forgiveness for an old hurt or forgiving another person for one, making some change or adjustment based on the Lord’s truth and will for us.

Faith is being moved by song and deciding to DO something about it: go forward and intercede in prayer for someone in need, share the Word with someone who you know needs Christ, fix the broken sidewalk that keeps an elderly neighbor inside during winter, repent of something God lays on your heart.

Faith is feeling sad about someone’s plight and then DOING something to help them: donating your time, or money, or talents to provide for them, physically going out and providing for them the items they need or repairs they need, going and sitting with them during hard times, providing love and counsel and comfort.

When we have faith, we DO something because we trust God to make everything ok.

Sweet Brothers and Sisters, we can’t just ride the emotional high on Sunday morning and then live the rest of the week wringing our hands or isolating ourselves or ignoring what God told us to do in that moment.

We can’t lift our hands in worship and praise during a song and then sit back down afterwards unchanged or unwilling to do what the song moved us to do. We can’t just shed a few tears for someone or offer a hollow condolence and then go on about our day and not DO something to serve them, comfort them, ease the difficult time for them.

Sometimes we let the enemy trick us into thinking that feeling something is enough, but when we look at the words of James and the life of Christ we see that Christ definitely felt for people, He was definitely moved when He prayed to His Heavenly Father, but that was never the end. He always did something!

Jesus saw a world in need and He did more than talk about it or pray about it; He prayed about it and then He did what God told Him to DO about it.

You might be thinking, “Yeah, but Christ is divine and He has the power to do anything. I’m just a person, one person, what can I do?”. I catch myself thinking that sometimes too.

Then God reminds me of Romans 8:11, 2 Timothy 1:7, 1 Peter 4:10, and Philippians 4:13; the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave has been given to me, a Spirit not of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.

With the Spirit, God also gave me spiritual gifts, abilities to do His will.

Through Christ, I have the strength to do all things for the glory of the One who saved me!

You see, God never leaves us unprepared for service. He wants us to DO things to further His Kingdom and to further His Kingdom we must serve Him by serving others. Being inspired, being moved, having feelings – that’s all nice and a necessarily part of worship – But God, God expects us to do more than just that; He expects us to have faith and faith is the DOING, the putting ourselves out there confident that God has or will equip us for the task because He has called us to do it.

Our “doing” won’t all look the same because our spiritual gifts aren’t the same. You may round up resources for a family in need by making 30 phone calls. I might pick those resources up and deliver them. Another person may ride along with me and pray with and counsel the family while I put everything inside the house. I may fix a broken step while you sing lullabies to the crying baby inside and someone else brings over dinner and another person tells the parents about Jesus’ love.

The truth is that we all have a role in the Body of Christ, and none of those roles are feeling inspired or moved and then doing nothing. There’s always a Do, no matter how small it may seem and nothing is ever small when done in the service of the Father.

As you go forth today, consider what God has asked you, moved you, inspired you, to do.

Seek His counsel on the matter and then DO what He tells you to do.

You’ll be amazed by the blessing you can be to others and, I’ll wager, that you’ll receive a blessing too.