For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26 NET_FL)
The few Christians surviving in Pakistan are salt-of-the-earth people. Beige and brown clothes, mud colored houses, food cooked over a dried cow dung fire—it was the simplest and most beautiful life I’d encountered. These humble children of God gave me a sublime lesson about a complex doctrine.
A brother sat in a chair in front of everyone posing as one of the many donkey-cart drivers of the village. Another brother played the part of the donkey but he pushed the cart with his head. Rolling laughter told us the Pakistanis immediately saw the problem and understood the analogy to a Biblical truth.
The Apostle Paul speaks definitively on faith when he says, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Likewise, James is accurate in claiming faith without works is dead. Paul is speaking of the donkey, James talks about the cart. Both parts working together carry me to salvation and they must come in the correct order. Good deeds cannot push faith, faith must pull good deeds.
Out of his own resources God paid the full price on the cross for grace and now he only requires that we not treat his astronomical gift cheaply. Only a donkey of faith pulling a cart of works demonstrates our grasp of how much God spent. Good works by themselves accomplish nothing because our charitable deeds will never remove the sin that holds us apart from God. Likewise, an unburdened donkey of belief frolicking about is so insincere as to be pointless. I need a donkey pulling a cart—faith in the blood of Jesus that is reflected in my works.
Prayer: God my Savior, may my life demonstrate my faith in your provision.