Prove your words by your actions

I've been thinking about James lately. The second chapter, specifically, in which we find the famous faith versus works section. Most of the time this section is just referenced in arguments between roman catholics and reformed evangelicals, and rarely gets to shine in a spotlight of its own.

I've been thinking about this passage in a different way lately. James already spent the previous chapter explaining about faith, and pretty much summed it up, so why then does he seem to drop the topic, only to bring it up again a few verses later? I think it's because James is really talking about sincerity. I think he's warning us to not be the "double-minded man" he mentions in 1:8.

Double-minded. Doesn't that remind you of something? Double-mind, double-thought, doublethink, doublespeak. In George Orwell's 1984, the term doublethink was coined to describe the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct. The concept is so wrong, and yet the practice is quite common. As a culture we are not centered on logic and reason, but instead have been overrun by the spirit of the moment, the feeling of "this is right, right now, even though it was wrong yesterday."

I had a discussion last week with someone who thought that words meant more than actions, because actions are just a "loud noise without context."

And so my next vocabulary word is an Orwell-inspired term: doublespeak. This is fairly self-explanatory. This is language that disguises its own meaning, distorts truth and reverses the meaning of words. And, I will add to this definition: doublespeak is sure to be present when one recognizes that their words and their actions are not consistent.

Consistency. It's more like a brother than a synonym to sincerity. But don't take my word for it.

Let's hear it from James:

     What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
      But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

It's so easy to promise one thing in the spur of the moment, and then forget - like the double-minded man - to follow through.

My takeaway from this is that while I can't avoid some inconsistencies (such as a holding the belief that it is right and biblical to fast, but not having the self-control or energy to do it) in my life, I should still strive to make sure that my actions match up with my words.

As James said, faith without works is dead. So in my belief, words without actions are dead.