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Pause

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

from “The Summons” by John L. Bell & Graham Maule

Listen

Someone might claim, “You have faith and I have action.” But how can I see your faith apart from your actions? Instead, I’ll show you my faith by putting it into practice in faithful action.

James 2:18

Think

Saying “You have faith and I have action” is as silly as saying “you have brain activity and I have breathing.” There’s no life without both together. And since faith is not something visible, it’s not the bumper sticker on our car or the cross necklace we may or may not wear. We can only see faith by the faithful action that results from it.

Which then begs the question: can people see my faith through my faithful action? If you asked my classmates, coworkers, friends, or neighbors, would they know I was a person of faith? Would they say yes, because she/he has a mission trip shirt? Or yes, because she/he steps out in faith, loves people even when they’re not lovely, is the first to be welcoming, asks for forgiveness when she/he has wronged others, and speaks up for the oppressed?

Katie Lloyd

Pray

God, please help my faith to be welded to faithful action. May people know that I follow you by the love I show others and the ways I put faith into action. It’s through your grace this is possible, amen.

Go

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

from “The Summons” by John L. Bell & Graham Maule