May 16, 2022
There is a popular reality TV show that is garnering a lot of
attention called, 'Real or Cake?' The premise of the show is
quite simple, top notch pastry chefs make incredible cake
masterpieces which look like regular everyday objects; shoes,
plants or doorknobs...use your imagination! In many cases,
the only way to tell the difference is to cut into it and take a
bite!
It is really quite amazing how these cake artists can literally
take such ordinary items and turn them into pastry works of
art. In most cases, just by looking at a picture of the
ordinary object and the cake imposter, a person can't really tell a
difference, they are that good! However, this raises a great
question about authenticity. If people can fake cake that
well, how can we know if something is real or counterfeit?
Money, clothing, shoes, cars, etc. can all be faked.
Now take a moment and ponder this question: How do you
know if your faith is real or fake?
It's
a good question, isn't it? Or here is another
question: How am I doing on my faith
journey?
One of the driving motivations for James in writing this letter is
to challenge Christians to take their faith in Jesus
seriously. To take one's faith seriously, there needs to be
tests and measurements of progress. So throughout
his letter James provides these different ways Christians can
measure or test their faith journey. A perfect example of
this is in the opening section of chapter two. Here's the
first verse:
Throughout
the rest of the chapter, James will lay out an argument as to why
our treatment of people is directly connected to our faith in
Jesus. Now, before you dismiss this test as irrelevant to
your life because you treat people well, please stop and consider
this question: Do you show favoritism?
To help you answer that question and to learn how to treat all
people equally, make sure and join us for part four of All
Day, Every Day...it's going to be good!