Aloha Friday, July 18th, 2025. A cardiologist once told me that the heart is the most honest organ in the body—it can't pretend to be alive. The moment it stops moving, everything else knows. There's no faking a heartbeat. James 2:26 reveals the same truth about faith: it pulses with action or it doesn't pulse at all. Real faith has a rhythm you can feel, a movement that transforms everything it touches.
Today's Reading:
Isaiah 32,33,34,35; James 2
Scripture
“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
(James 2:26 NIV)
Observation
James ends this chapter with a sobering image: a body without breath. Faith, he says, is like the human body. If there’s no movement—no breath, no life signs—it’s dead. You can dress it up, preserve it, even admire it from the outside, but it has no power to live or love.
James isn’t replacing grace with works. He’s revealing what grace does. Real grace doesn’t just save us—it changes us. It doesn’t just get us to heaven—it gets heaven into us. A faith that’s alive is a faith that moves.
Application
“Movement is life.” That phrase has been on repeat in my heart today.
I can memorize every verse about serving and still keep my hands clean. I can preach about reconciliation on Sunday and dodge difficult people on Monday. Knowledge without movement is just spiritual furniture—it looks good but doesn't go anywhere.
But faith that's alive? It can't sit still when there's work to be done. Jesus didn't just believe in redemption—He walked toward the cross. He didn't just talk about love—He moved toward lepers, tax collectors, broken people like me.
I’m not just saved by grace through faith—I’m moved by grace. Grace doesn’t just rescue me from sin; it calls me into purpose. It doesn’t just forgive my past; it empowers my present. It doesn’t just cover my weakness; it activates my faith.
Dead faith has house slippers. Living faith wears running shoes.
So where is my faith too still? Where have I believed but not moved? If movement is life, and grace is power, then I don’t want to stand still when Jesus is calling me to move.
Prayer
Lord, don’t let my faith grow cold and motionless. I want a living faith. Lead me into the kind of faith that breathes and moves. Even if the step is small, help me take it. Movement is life—and I want a faith that’s alive. Amen.
—Chris Kiriakos