Zeal with Knowledge followed by Deeds

Tuesday’s Scripture Readings:
OT: Daniel 9
NT: James 2
W&W: Psalm 130

Today’s Reflection:

Sunday night at Bethel Nazarene Church was fun! Our church hosted a community event to get to know the school board candidates and to get our questions about the levy in Bethel-Tate Township answered.

I began the night by sharing a devotional thought from Proverbs 19.2: “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” It seems that our political process has a lot of zeal now that is driven by party affiliation instead of genuine knowledge. I shared that the purpose of our time together Sunday was to gain knowledge in order to vote from an informed perspective.

After the board candidates took time to speak to the assembly, our school board president talked for a few minutes about the levy. When he was done, the school superintendent shared a few thoughts. Then, the president and superintendent – along with the school treasurer – answered some questions from the congregation. It was great to have this forum to hear about the candidates and the levy. I hope to host this again in the future. (Hope it’s not a levy again, but we’ll see if this one passes or not…)

I am reminded that a follower of Jesus Christ is one who goes out in citizenship. Our relationship with Jesus is not confined to the property or service times of the local church. No, we are called to go out from our times and places of gathering to live as responsible and contributing members of our communities.

James – the brother of the Lord and the de facto leader of the church in Jerusalem – wrote a letter to the early church which has been preserved in the Bible in book which bears his name. In chapter 2, James shares that the only way our faith is real is for it to be lived out in tangible ways: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?... Someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

Are you involved in your community? Are you going out to live as a contributing and responsible member of your family, workplace, school, and neighborhood? Anything less than that is less than Christian!

This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
James 1.22: Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.