Ready for Kickoff: Faith vs. Works(?)

One of the most exciting times of the year, at least as I see it, is beginning this weekend. College Football! Some of you may not be a football fan, but it's hard to miss the busyness and excitement that the fall season brings. School has already begun. The pumpkins are coming. The festivals are coming. The fair is coming. Thanksgiving is coming. Fall is such an eventful, exciting time!

As fall "kicks off," we have a lot to anticipate and be excited about. Each of these events requires a level of readiness in order that the events go well.

Imagine that you are on a football team as the weeks wind down to the opening game of a new season. You practice every day (maybe twice) with your teammates, study the playbook, and perform the best way you can on the field in order to get ready for your first game.

Our journey with God is quite similar. For football teams, there is much practice and preparation for that opening kickoff of a game. We don't get to see it when we watch the game, but we know that the team cannot perform well if they are not practicing, if they do not have good morale, if their coaches are not on the same page...if they are not ready.

In a similar way, we must practice our faith for our faith to become realized. As players embody their coaches ideas and plays, we embody what we believe by what kind of people we become. Faith and works are one in the same; one is evidence of the other. James thought so too, I think, evidenced by James 2: 17

"In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity." (Common English Bible).

Where the football analogy falls short is that players definitely have to earn the right to play in the game. We, do not. Christ has given you the opportunity to live a faithful life, and it is our job not to waste it (even though it is free). The game is not really between faith and works (as if they are at odds in terms of our salvation), but in our hearts. Are you willing to live faithfully? Are you willing to actively show your faith by you live?

More on Sunday...see you then!