James 2:14-26
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
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. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Christianity in the West is dying from atrophy. Atrophy means wasting away and in the medical field atrophy often results when a person's muscles begin to waste away because of underuse or neglect. When a person experiences a long season of inactivity their muscles begin to experience atrophy, they lose their strength, and eventually the person is unable to carry on basic human functions. The same is occurring in Christianity in the West. Christians have been neglecting our duties and gifts and the power that comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We have underused our faith so long that the Church has begun to atrophy, even losing our ability to carry out the basic functions of our faith.
James points out that not living out our faith isn't real faith. As he says poignantly, "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." I've known Christians who have sat in the same pew in the same church for decades, never having attended a Bible study or Sunday school, never having engaged in missions, never having their lives changed. Their spiritual lives atrophied right where they sat all those years.
