Leader Reflections: One achievers brief exploration of faith and works. 🌱
What happens when the very first Bible verse you learn is about works of faith? At 17 years old, I found myself in church for only the third time. It was that day I memorized my first Bible verse during a Sunday school class, James 2:18, “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.” 📖
Before I learned about the infinite grace of Jesus or heard John 3:16, I embraced the truth that my faith would always produce fruit. There would always be results!
In the weeks that followed, I would accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The interplay between faith and works has been a tension that I’ve managed my entire adult life.
The way I see it, there are pros and cons to this foundation of my faith journey.
Here’s just a few:
Upsides 👍🏼
An active, living faith
Visible outcomes from actions taken
Opportunities for far-reaching impact
A harvest to reflect upon on challenging days
Downsides 👎🏼
At times, the pursuit of results overshadows the importance of relationships including my relationship with Jesus
Occasional over-attribution of success to personal effort rather than divine intervention
Getting ahead of what God is doing
To those who've seen the pros and endured the cons of this way of leading, I extend my gratitude for your patience. Especially on the days when you meet the overly ambitious, results-focused version of me. I appreciate your grace. I am, and always will be, a work in progress.
Recently, I’ve been exploring what it looks like to live the truth found in John 15 in my daily actions. 🪴
I'd love to hear your thoughts - How do you strike the balance between faith and works in your life?