Beloved People of God,
As a kid, I loved Aesop’s fables. My imagination was captured by his clever use of animals, making each fable feel like a mini-Trojan horse of insight! For example, he told a great story called "The Fox and the Cat." In this fable, the two were strolling along together, comparing their escape strategies should they find themselves being hunted. The Fox mocked the Cat for having only a single strategy, while boasting of his own countless ideas for evasion. But when the hunters arrived, the Cat ran straight up a tree and hid, while the Fox was captured—unable to choose which of his strategies to use.
The Fox suffered from what we call "analysis paralysis." Many early Christians were similarly so busy second-guessing the application of their faith that they gave precious room to doubt, becoming spiritually captured in their double-mindedness. They didn’t need a thousand different answers to the question of how to live an embodied faith in Christ; they only needed one: ask God for wisdom (James 1:5-8). These Christians had become so busy “hearing” they had no time for doing. Barricaded by their misguided analysis, they were paralyzed from living out their faith. To excuse their inaction, they even began to argue that application was irrelevant—claiming that all they needed was “faith;” no outward expressions of that faith were required.
Hearing this, James calls them back to right belief. He doesn’t hold back. To those trapped in their navel-gazing, he says, “Do you want to be shown, Oh hollow person! that faith apart from works is useless?” (2.20). His words reveal that their double-minded ideas actually expose the inner emptiness of their faith. Such faith is useless, barren, and atrophying in its idleness because it does not reveal a living faith! When they are placed alongside Jesus’ parable of the Talents, these paralyzed believers have more in common with the inactive servant who is rebuked for his wickedness and thrown out of the Master’s presence (Matthew 25.14-30)! Not willing that anyone should have a hollow, dead faith, James encourages them to follow the living examples of Abraham and Rahab, who demonstrated their inner faith. They weren’t perfect, but they did believe, and put their faith into action.
We don’t need a thousand ideas. We just need to ask for wisdom and then get to work.
For Christ the King,
Brett