ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

James 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, (16) And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? (17) Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

In these verses of scripture James is making a strong statement. Basicly what James is saying is, "Action speaks louder than words."I could give many illustrations or examples but the one below says it much better than I could.

Sharing Our Coat

In an article on China in Eternity Magazine, the writer records a story of Christian love and kindness. "A Chinese cook was put into prison one night. It was bitterly cold. About 26 degrees below zero. He had on his padded clothes and a big fur coat. But a heathen man who was later thrown in with him had no wraps at all. The Christian man began to pray that God would get him out of prison. While he was praying, it seemed God spoke to him. `I won't hear your prayer until you've taken off your fur coat and given it to this man who had none.' `But if I do that, I'll be frozen to death by morning,' the man thought. `Well, if you don't,' he seemed to hear God's reply, `this man will be dead before morning.' So he took off his fur coat and gave it to the man and his life was saved. Later on at a Christian gathering in Communist China, the heathen man who had received the coat got up and gave his testimony. "I am here today because a man shared his coat with me in prison." People are in need. People are suffering. The winning of souls to Christ could well depend on how willing we are to share our coat. (copied)

Remember as we go into the Christmas season what the season is really about. We were given the greatest gift ever when God sent His Son to us to be our Savior. We had a great need and Jesus came so He could sacrifice Himself to fill it.
We live in a country and in a time when we have been blessed with much. When we see people in need it is easy to blame them for their own predicament. Usually they are at least partly to blame because of the decisions they have made in their life. Regardless of how they got there, the fact is they are still there.
This Christmas Season why not ask God to show you an area where you can make a difference. It might be helping to distribute food baskets for your Church. There may be a family that you know of who could use some help or encouragement. If you don't have a specific area you could help in you can always contribute to the Salvation Army. They are one Charity that really does make a difference in people's lives.
When you do it, don't do it so you can feel good about it. Don't do it so you won't feel guilty. Do it for the sake of those in need and so that maybe their greatest need might someday be met by the one who filled our greatest need. Do it so they might come to know Jesus.