Stewardship of the Faith

Introduction

Stewardship is a theological belief that humans are responsible for the world, humanity,
and the gifts and resources that have been entrusted to us. Believers in stewardship are usually
people who believe in one God who created the universe and all that is within it, also believing
that they must take care of creation and look after it. Creation includes animals and the
environment. Many religions and denominations have various degrees of support
for environmental stewardship. A biblical world view of stewardship can be consciously defined
as: “Utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of
His creation.” The central essence of biblical world view stewardship is managing everything God
brings into the believer's life in a manner that honors God and impacts eternity.

Having faith can be difficult. Keeping faith in the face of doubt is the ongoing struggle of
every Christian since the earliest days of Christianity. We dedicate the first Sunday after Easter to
Thomas the Apostle, forever remembered as “Doubting Thomas” because he doubted the first
reports of the Resurrected Christ. In the Gospel of Mark 9:22, we read that when the disciples
couldn’t help him, a father brings his epileptic son to Jesus in desperation, saying, “...if you can
do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus replies to the father’s lack of faith, “If you
can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The father’s response is a prayer we can
pray every day: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Faith is our trust in God. Faith is our trust that He watches over us and has a plan for us:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil,
to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Living with the uncertainty of daily life requires
faith. Uncertainty also invites doubt. But doubt does not indicate a lack of faith. As theologian and
philosopher Paul Tillich has written, “Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.”
Doubt is a part of our journey of faith, but we need to face our doubt honestly and directly.

Faith is often accompanied by struggle as we search for the truth. Doubt instills humility.
Doubt motivates us to learn and to grow. In spite of his doubt, the Apostle Thomas remained open

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to the truth of the Resurrection. When he saw the Risen Christ, he immediately believed and
became a great apostle of the faith. His doubt led him to a greater faith.

Stewardship of our faith in Jesus Christ calls us to do those things that protect and
strengthen the faith that lies within us. Taking the time to learn about our Orthodox Christian Faith,
praying to God for understanding and guidance, and worshiping with others as the Body of Christ
– all these things protect and strengthen our faith. As stewards of the faith, Saint Peter instructs us
to “…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in
you….” (1 Peter 3:15)

To be stewards of the faith we are also called to be stewards of our local church which
nurtures our faith and the faith of others. Stewardship is an act of faith. When we believe,
stewardship follows. Stewardship is faith in action; action motivated by humble gratitude to God
for his blessings in our life.

(1) Practical Faith in the Biblical Perspective

Faith is one of those words that is commonly used but not always understood. Faith in the
context of the Bible can be enlightening for someone who believes in Him. Faith is a central
concept that holds profound significance for believers. Faith is not just a vague feeling or blind
belief; it is a foundational aspect of the Christian worldview. Faith begins with acknowledging the
character of God as revealed in the Bible. It is based on the belief that God is loving, just, merciful,
and faithful to His Word. As we come to know God more through Scripture and personal
experiences, our trust in Him grows, leading to a deeper faith in Him.

It would be a good idea if we all just admitted that we need to learn about God’s way of
doing things. The closest that the Bible comes to offering an exact definition is Hebrews 11:1 –
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” From this
particular passage we see that the central feature of faith is confidence or trust. In the Bible, the
object of faith is God and his promises. A clear example of this is Abram’s encounter with God in
Genesis 15. In response to God’s promise of countless descendants, Abram “believed the LORD,
and he counted it to him as righteousness.” (Gen 15:6). Commenting on this, the Apostle Paul
writes, “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his
faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

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(Rom 4:20-21). Thus, faith means putting your trust in God and having confidence that he will
fulfill his promises. 1

Faith involves intellectual, emotional, and volitional dimensions. Intellectual faith is

understanding and accepting the truth of God’s Word. Romans 10:17 – “So faith comes from
hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith begins with gaining knowledge and
understanding through hearing and studying the Word of God. Emotional faith is a deep, heartfelt
trust in God’s character and promises. Psalm 9:10 states this – “And those who know your name
put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” This simply means
that trusting in God’s unchanging nature fosters emotional faith within you. Volitional faith is the
active decision to surrender one’s life to God and live in obedience to His commands. Joshua 24:15
– “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, which means that faith here is
demonstrated through choices and actions, such as deciding to serve the Lord.

Faith is more than intellectual agreement. To use an old illustration, imagine you are at
Niagara Falls watching a tightrope walker push a wheelbarrow across the rope high above the falls.
After watching him go back and forth several times, he asks for a volunteer to sit in the
wheelbarrow as he pushes it across the falls. At an intellectual level you may believe that he could
successfully push you across the rope over the falls, but you are not exercising biblical faith until
you get in the wheelbarrow and entrust yourself to the tightrope walker.

Genuine biblical faith expresses itself in everyday life. James writes that “faith by itself,
apart from works, is dead” (James 2:17). Faith works through love to produce tangible evidence
of its existence in a person’s life (Gal 5:6). Put another way, the obedience that pleases God comes

1
Jim Cymbala, Fresh Faith (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 97.

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from faith (Rom 1:5; 16:26) rather than a mere sense of duty or obligation. There is all the
difference in the world between the husband who buys his wife flowers out of delight and one who
buys them simply out of duty.

According to the Biblical, keeping believing in what you know is true; keeping believing
you know the Lord will see you through. When troubles rise in your life, and you don’t know what
to do, you’ll be fine if you just keep believing. 2 Faith is so important because it is the means by
which we have a relationship with God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph
2:8). Faith is how we receive the benefits of what Jesus has done for us. He lived a life of perfect
obedience to God, died to pay the penalty for our sinful rebellion against God, and rose from the
dead to defeat sin, death, and the devil. By putting our faith in him, we receive forgiveness for our
sins and the gift of eternal life.3

(2) The Deeper Faith of a Woman

I would like to write to about the story of the woman in Bible Luke 8:43-48 as Jesus went,
the people pressed around him, and there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for
twelve years. This story unfolds in Capernaum near the sea of Galilee. Jesus was teaching when
he was approached by a man identified as a worker in the local synagogue. He came to Jesus in
distress, begging for a visit to his home where his 12-year-old daughter was sick unto death. Jesus
immediately moved in the direction of this man’s house. And we must see that a woman had spent
all her living on physicians, but she could not be healed by anyone she came up behind Jesus Christ
and the fringe of his garment. And immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said who
was it that touched me? These lessons from the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible will
empower, encourage and inspire you. The story of the bleeding woman is one of the most moving
in the Scriptures. There is hardly a person who cannot relate to struggling with something for a
long time. There is hardly a person who does not know what it is to find themselves in a desperate
situation.

2
bid., 112.

Willem A. VanGemeren and others, The Law, the Gospel, and the Modern Christian (Grand Rapids:
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Zondervan, 1993), 78.

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 When all denied it peter said, master the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you,
but Jesus said someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone. And when the women saw
that she was not hidden she came trembling why and falling down before him declared in the
presence of the people. And that is what this story is about. Fighting for your life. Fighting to take
hold of the answer to prayers. The whole Bible is about helping us to get to know God. When Jesus
came to earth, his greatest desire was for us to learn to trust Him. To believe. The story of the
bleeding woman can be found in the three of the four gospels; Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34
and Luke 8:43–48. Each of these Bible authors gives us the same story but with different details
and flavors. If you read them all together you will get a rich, colorful picture of this event.

The meaning of “issue of blood” in this case referred to the woman’s disease which might
have been a gynecological problem that specifically caused her to bleed from her womb. Whatever
it was, it had lasted for 12 long years. Her journey of healing took her to every doctor she knew
and every cure, whether legitimate or not. (More on this later). Scripture says she was now broken
because she had spent all her money. Jesus was her last hope so she creeped behind Jesus in the
crowd, believing that if she touched his clothes, she would receive healing. And she did. As soon
as she received healing, Jesus stopped dead in his tracks. “Who touched me?” he asked. The
woman was both afraid and ashamed to come forward but as Jesus gave her his attention, she
explained everything that had happened to her. Jesus responded positively, telling her that her faith
had healed her.

According to the gospel writing, we realize that the woman who she went against the rules of
her time to reach for her healing and blessing, she had some beliefs that were not quite true but she
trusted in Jesus’ power, she had to go through was no ordinary crowd but she pushed through
anyway although she could have been crushed to death and after she touched Jesus and he turned
around, Scripture says “she came trembling”. She was not the most courageous but she did it scared
anyway.

In Jewish culture, her bleeding disorder rendered her unclean. Everything and anyone she
touched was unclean. According to Levitical law, she was not permitted to handle money or food,
or attend the services of the synagogue. Some female were adopted a change of clothing .4She

4
John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The VIP Bible Background Commentary: Old
Testament (India: Omega Book World, 2019), 193.

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really should not be physically close to anyone and certainly not in a crowd. What she did,
exposing others to her uncleanness was a crime, punishable by law. And this is why she could not
ask Jesus for healing openly. Instead, she risked her life to access her healing secretly. This is one
of the more outstanding characteristics of the woman with the issue of blood. Her willingness to
go out on a limb. Her illness was common among women and very difficult to cure. Truth is, the
only thing she had left to lose was her life and there wasn’t much to her living anyway because of
her illness. Many people in the crowd put their hands on Jesus but this bleeding woman was the
only one who truly touched Jesus. Her faith was so powerful that it reached God more deeply than
anyone else in that crowd.

A faith as deep and unwavering as this woman’s not only earns God’s attention but it also
secures His undivided attention. After the woman identified herself, Jesus zoomed in on her. Jesus
listened intently as she told her story. He listened as she described the shameful, disgraceful burden
she had held for 12 years, the scorn she had suffered, the loneliness she had been bearing and the
desperation she felt. Jesus did not hurry her along although a little girl was on the brink of death.
It’s not that he cared less about this little girl. Jesus did not need to hurry. He has life and death in
his hands. In Jesus’ case, when she talked about the hem of his garment, she was talking
specifically about a particular Jewish practice. Every devout Jew wore four blue tassels on the
fringes of the four corners of their outer garment. The real power was in her faith in God. It was
through her faith that she received healing.

Although Jesus knew that her faith was mixed with superstition, he met her where she was.
Her faith was accepted, even in its imperfection. It is interesting that she received her healing even
without Jesus consciously interacting with her. It just demonstrates God’s nature. Even imperfect
faith moves Him. Faith is one of those spiritual disciplines that permeates all aspects of life. This
bleeding woman was experiencing untold anguish across all areas of her existence. Because of the
Jewish rules about bleeding and the social stigma associated with being diseased, she was not able
to enjoy healthy human relationships, whether romantic or otherwise. She was isolated from her
religious community. There was a belief that illness was God’s way of punishing people so there
is a great chance that she was shunned by her family and disowned by her father. As a woman in
that society, this was an extremely vulnerable place to be. She had no one to cover her or speak up
for her.

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 (3) Practical faith in my family life

Before I came hear I have many experiences as a Christion life like God has done for our family
that I cannot forget it anymore and I feel like that God always has grace and mercy for us that I
would like to share with other so that I believe that will encourage other too. In general, when we
are on this earth, we have to live with other people, whether they are Christians or not. But we
cannot refuse so we must to live with other that we need to understand more each other to use
ability that patient. In my witness about my sister’s experience, our family is a believer and we
live among non- believers. So, sometime when we get the benefit through our work, some people
get jealous on us. One day when we didn’t go to the farm, they took so many trees that the governor
not allow to use then they put in the farm of us that we can’t see. So, some people call the police
to come and show all the trees, in that way police caught my sisters and one elder that helped her.
At the time our family full of stressed, sad, and depression through the hard time. In that way we
collect our properties and sell the land, we start run about the information for our sisters to get the
liberation. And we find the lawyer and hired the lawyer, when we start run for the first time,
judgment says however the situation happen but we were wrong. We start find another one of
lawyer to come and help us for the second time, at the time my sister was crying all the time and
she didn’t know anything because she felt too pain. Everyone lose their hope but just only my
mum has certain in her faith. But as for our sibling we ask for other help like we didn’t have God.
We run from people first and we almost forgot that we had God.

Our mother prayed for us through her faith, encourage us to live in faith. She truly believes
that God will show His mercy, love, and kindness for His glories. As a mother faith in God, when
we start to run for the third time, we did not have a money and our lawyer left us, at the end of the
third time we attend about that information, she just only brought a Bible. So, she decided to accept
everything that happen to her as God’s will. And at that time, because of the prayer of mother and
the people pray and fasting, the judges showing their decided that the two people have no mistake
about it and it’s possible between a woman the old man to curry the trees. So, we can see God
showing His mercy and love upon my sister and my family. It was a big miracle of God has given
us. If we looking back for the 1 and 2 time, the judges see them as those who did the mistake
because we hope for the people and we don’t put God first on our life. Of course, we will see the
problem and the difficult time around by our side. But when we put our whole life in God hands,

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and we believe in God certainly our faith redeems us from the temptation. So, our family has
experience about the faith has a value and will surely give us the grace and benefit. Stewardship f
our faith calls us to protect and strengthen the faith that lies within us. Taking time to learn about
our Orthodox Christian Faith, praying to God for understanding and guidance, and worshiping
with others as the Body of Christ all these things protect and strengthen our faith. Faith is not a big
rule book of “dos and don’ts”.” It is about loving and seeing Jesus Christ in others. Stewardship is
faith in action; action motivated by humble gratitude to God for his blessings in our life.

When we read how Christ walked the earth and healed the sick, sought the poor and cheered
their hearts, and talked to men of the love of the Father, it is not enough to know that all this
happened nineteen hundred years ago; we long for his presence now, we forget that he is still at
work. True, he walks no more in the world, he talks no more with the passers- by on the streets,
but he walks to them and he talks to us by his Hol Spirit. And as he talks to us by his Spirit, he
tells us that his deeds of healing, his words of love, his assurances of the Father’s care, were only
that men might know that God is at all times physician and friend and father. Since God is
unchangeable, his promises are sure. He performs them everyone. They are not outlawed by the
lapse of time. God who made them sits in unchanging love and longing for his people. So we are
to pant our feet firmly upon them and we shall be safe. How often we loo at one of God’s promises
doubtingly, claim it very hesitatingly, get down as it were on hands and knees for fear it will fail
us, when all the time that promise is as strong as the omnipotent God who made it and makes it
today, as unchangeable as the Eternal who assures us, “Even to old age I am he, and even to hoar
hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear: yea I will carry and I will deliver.”

Then the thought of the unchangeableness of God is our encouragement to prayer, and
constant prayer. We can go to God at all times, sure of a favorable reception at his hands. There is
no need to wait for a favorable moment, as Esther was compelled to wait when she wished to go
to her king. Her earthly Lord was a creature like ourselves, subject to mods and tempers and fits
of the blurs, and she wished to remain away from him until she realized that he was having one of
his good days. Frequently we find it advisable to observe the same precaution I our dealings with
men. We have a favor to as, but we do not ask it until we have tested our friend by a few moment
of casual conversation; we want to know how he is feeling. Perhaps we have a business proposition
to make, but we ma have to postpone our work for days, while we wait for a favorable opportunity.

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We learn to be wise as serpents in our dealing with men, because they ae as changeable as
ourselves.

There is no need to wait for the sign that God is ready for us. It is only a fable which tells
that the invalids of Jerusalem cold not hope for relief in the pool of Bethesda until the moment it
was troubles by an angel from heaven; it was only a man who held out the scepter to his queen in
toke that he would grant her petition instead of ordering her death. But it is the true God who calls
us to him at all times. When we go to him in prayer of petition, we do not need continually to draw
back, with the thought that we had better wait until another day; we have already asked as much
as we think he will feel like giving s today. We cannot ask too much of him whom giving doth not
impoverish nor withholding enrich. We cannot approach too often to him who said, “For I,
Jehovah, change not.” To him we must cling in the midst of the changes and the disappointments,
the griefs and the losses of life, as well as in the times of joy and gladness. For those who cling to
God cannot be overwhelmed. They shall be safe. To him they can always pray, I faith and trust.
And he will hear the prayer and give his wonderful answer.

There are degrees of faith. There is the faith of him who believes in Christ just enough to
throw himself on Christ for salvation. But he knows so little of the Master; he has not had time to
learn. Yet Christ receives him, for he will not break the bruised reed not quench the smoking flax.
Christ bears with him, even when he shows that he is satisfied with bearing the name of Christian,
with having entered the outer sanctuary of God’s heart, where he is content to stay. Then there is
the faith of him who is never satisfied with what he knows, but is ever longing for more light, more
revelation, further progress in the mysteries of the Christian life. Both men have saving faith. But
what a difference there is in their lives. A seventeenth century writer has compared the faith of the
man who is content with little to the voyage of a leaky, unseaworthy vessel. Buffeted by storms,
its captain and crew have a hard time to keep afloat; but it reaches port at last. But the Christian
whose faith is ever increasing is like the stanch and steady vessel which, though encountering the
same storms, is able to ride them safely and securely, at cost of little vexation and delay, util it
comes into the harbor with wit every sail set to the favoring wind.

A little faith is far better than none, but a growing faith is a necessity for the comfort of the
Christian, and it is a necessity if we would please God. God is always leased when he sees faith,
but how much greater is his pleasure when he sees great faith! When Peter started to walk to Chrit

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upon the water, and began to sink, Christ called to him yearningly. “O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt?” When the disciples sought to heal the demoniac boy, but could not for lack of
faith, the Master looked lovingly and reprovingly upon them and exclaimed “O faithless
generation, how long shall I be with you?” Thus, two of Christ’s infrequent reproofs to his
disciples were called forth by little faith. It was natural, then that one of the very few occasions
when he marveled was when strong faith was disclosed in an unexpected quarter. A centurion
wished him to heal his servant. But he felt unworthy that Chrit should come under his roof, and he
entreated him: “Speak the word only, and my servant shall live.” And Christ was pleased, for he
said “I have not found such faiths, no not in Israel.”

Christ was always pleased when he saw great faith, and when he was desire for more faith.
Surely he was gratified when the blind man cried: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” And
when the disciples prayed, “Increase our faith.” he proceeded at once to show them what great
things faith could accomplish. God is pleased with a little faith. But it is worthy of notice and
reflection that those names are placed in God’s book of remembrance in the eleventh chapter of
Hebrews as those who pleased him wee men and women of strong and growing faith There is no
Saul there, and no Thomas; but the names of Enoch and Noah and Abraham, Sarah and Issac and
Jacob, of Joseph and Moses and Rahab, tell us distinctly that a growing faith is necessary to him
who would please God.

Trust in God brings blessings for the present. David said of God: “He is our help.” Note
that little word “is,” How mush it tells of the life of the writer! He believed God’s word, and
accepted it. He understood that God was not only ready to help him, but that he was helping him.
He had made trial of God in the past, had been brought to the knowledge of his power and ability
to help his children, and now he was simply resting in the knowledge that he was with him. God
was his help in difficulties, public and personal; his help temptation; his help in suffering. “He is
our help.” This was a declaration like that made by Lincoln when he left Springfield for
Washington after his election to the presidency: “I feel that I cannot succeed without the divine aid
upon which at all times Washington relied. On him I place my reliance for support.” But David
was also sure of receiving benefits for the future. In the same passage from which quotation has
already been made he said: “our heart shall rejoice in him.” He knew that the future held for him

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nothing but jo, not transient joy, the joy of earthly existence, the jo which man tastes only to turn
from it in disgust; but real joy the joy of the heart, the jo of God himself. 5

A heart rejoicing in the Lord is to be the possession, throughout an eternal future, of every
man who trusts in God, because will wait lovingly on those who trust him, and will give them jo
in the knowledge and the possession of himself. I doubt, however, if there was any such distinction
between present and future blessings in the mind of David. For he had a vivid sense of God present
with hm. Having God he had all things, not only for the future, but for the present. Eternal life was
his present possession; the jo of the future would be but a continuation of his present joy. That
experience will be understood by many Christians. They not only grasp the blessings of the present
these can be understood and appreciated by their friends but they have so long brooded over the
promise, “all things are yours,” and the personality and reliability of him who inspired those words,
that already, by faith, they have laid hold upon the joys of the future and have them in the present.
Once I read the story of a poor Christian widow who had long looked forward to receiving a fortune
which had bee in litigation for man years. She had planned just what she would do with ever dollar;
it was all to go to the Church of Jesus Christ, for work at home and abroad. She was sure of her
right to the fortune. Her lawyer had assured her it would be in her possession someday. She was
as happy in planning the distribution o the funds as if they were actually in her hands. And when
she died, without having received the fortune, it was found that, by will , she had left it all to the
work to which she had, in thought, given it while yet alive. That was, then, as much a real gift, so
far as she was concerned, as it proved to be a few days after her death, when the case was settled
and the money was turned over to the widow’s church. She had simply grasped in the present what
she felt assured was to come to her in the future.

So it was with the patriarch Jacob. He received a promise rom God that the land in which
he dwelt was to belong to his seed after him. This promise was so many times repeated, and e
dwelt on the thought of it so often, that he looked upon the land as already his, though many tribes
of enemies occupied it. And when he lay on his deathbed in Egypt, fat from the promised
inheritance, he felt that it was his to dispose of as he would a present possession, because a
promised possession. With magnificent faith he called his sons and gave them his blessing, an to
teach man a portion in that land of promise. It has been pointed cut that the reality of his belief in

5
Dudley Daniel, Biblical Leadership (South Africa: Zondervan Publishing House, 2004), 87.

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his present possession was shown when, pausing in the midst of his legacy- giving, he lifted his
eyes to heaven and cried, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord,” as though singing in his
gratitude to God,” Thou didst promise; now thou hast fulfilled thy promise; the promised blessing
is at hand,” B long communion with God, he had grasped the promise so securely that the mark
between present and future had entirely disappeared. For him all was present joy, because of
present faith. 6

In the end, if we remain faithful of the Lord, the result will be eternal salvation. As Peter
said, the “outcome” of faith is “salvation” (1 Peter 1:9).

Paul made this same point in his second letter to Timothy. He wrote, “From childhood you have
known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). Salvation is “through faith.” That faith ultimately
comes from the “sacred writings” that produce “wisdom.” In other words, “Faith comes from
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Paul also told the brethren in Ephesus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). We are saved by grace through
faith. Again, salvation is tied necessarily to faith. We cannot be saved without having faith in God.

Of course, when the Bible teaches that faith saves us, it is not saying that we are saved by
faith alone, though this is what many in the denominational world teach. They believe that the only
part that man plays in salvation is mentally acknowledging and accepting the fact that Jesus is the
Son of God and that He died on the cross for their sins. Many who believe this also believe that it
is only possible for one to have this “faith” if it is given to him by God. In other words, they believe
that God has arbitrarily chosen certain ones to be saved and has bestowed on them a measure of
faith so that they can be saved. The unavoidable conclusion to this thinking is that those who will
be lost are the one that God simply does not want to save. Yet the apostle Paul said that God
“desires all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4).

6
Peter Ackroyd, Exile and Restoration (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968), 45.

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Conclusion

God want us to keep faith and live in faith because faith is really important for our christinit
life. Faith saves. Not only that, but all can be saved by faith. However, this faith is more than just
a mental acknowledgement of some truths about Christ. James wrote, “You see that a man is
justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). In the surrounding verses, James made the
point that faith – real faith – and works are inseparable from one another. “Even so faith, if it has
no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works;
show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works’” (James 2:17-
18). “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James
2:26). Through faith, we can avoid the “eternal destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9) that we deserve.

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