What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. James 2:14-17
What is faithfulness if we only practice it when it is convenient?
What is generosity if we only share our cast-offs and leftovers?
What is gentleness if we turn it on and off like a switch?
What is joy if we neglect to thank the Source of our joyfulness?
What is kindness if we extend it to some but not all?
What is patience if we ask it of others, but fail to reciprocate?
What is peace if we give up on it even while we pray to be an instrument of it?
What is self-control if we use it as an excuse to stay within our comfort zone?
What is love if we love our neighbors but only those who are easy to love?
~Sally Hoelscher