Ready, Set, Action!

The Bible, in the book of James, declares that faith without works is dead! Wow. To those who have read the last blog I have news for us ... If we're not working then we are just daydreaming.

One of America's great founding fathers once said, "Well done is better than well said!" Two cheers for Mr. Franklin for coining that phrase 'cause what a phrase it is. One would be hard pressed to find someone that actually does not have anything to say. Almost everyone has an opinion or a thought or even an idea. Now, I have not surveyed all of humanity, but I can't imagine someone that has the ability to think not to have any desire to be something or to be someone in the future. I can imagine that even the worst thug desires to be the best in his field or at least be like someone else he admires in that field. Of course, there are less people that can articulate their desires and thoughts eloquently with precision and destiny. But there is a distinction between the man that can think and can speak, versus the man that can do what he thinks and what he speaks. The accomplishment of a deed is far better than the planning of the deed. To think and dream without action is to kill the thought and the dream.

In the worst of times, people can dream up of inventive ways to get through the hard times. Staring out onto space with your thoughts of rebounding from failure can bring some very innovative thoughts. Thoughts of buying and selling and profitering light up the mind. Even the thoughts of winning the elusive lottery, can spark the mind into hopeful daydreaming - which is shadow of faith. Our mind has the power to concieve the uninvented, the unchartered, and the beyond; but even playing the lottery requires a dollar, a few numbers, and the walk to a nearby store to put all those ingredients together if there is a chance of winning the jackpot. If the mind has the right numbers in its thought, without the activity of actually buying a ticket, one will never win.

What am I saying? Even if you have the faith to move mountains, if there is no action accompanying that faith, then your faith is dead. Faith alone cannot do it. Even in salvation man must believe - have faith - then he must confess, repent, accept, and obey. James states it this way (I'm paraphrasing here), "You can tell someone to be fed, but unless you feed him he won't be fed. You can tell a man he will be clothed, but unless you give him some clothes to put on he'd still be undressed."

Right!

You can't just believe for a recovery. We can't just believe that things will turn around. We can't just believe that we will get another job, have a new business, or we'll have more money. Well, I guess you can, but if you don't do anything about it, you're going to lose hope. True faith is like true love - it requires action. Jesus, our greatest example, hung on the cross after He said that God loved the world! Well done better than well said! John 3:16 is a great Bible verse but Luke 23:46 is better. Talking about ideas no matter how long the conversation lasts is not better than perfoming the ideas. You know why? Because doing is harder than talking so doing is a greater expression than speaking. It's easy talking about how wonderful a Ferrari looks and sounds and maybe even runs, it's another thing to be in the factory in Italy putting finely tuned pieces together making sure that all pieces fit properly, functioning according to specs, and all parts are engaging seemlessly.

Dreaming is easy. Saying that you have faith is easy - children speak of the impossible all the time -but acting out what one believes is hard. Why is that? Because there is no fear in dreams and faith. No one can fail at dreaming or expressing faith. Dreams and faith are immeasureable, but action is measurable. We cannot tell whether or not a dream is good or bad we can only make opinions about it; but when we act, we have the capacity to fail. There can be no failure in faith but there can be failure in action. Therefore the fear then is not in believing but in failing. I have heard over the years many people say that they have faith, but, like James stated in his epistle, show me your faith by your works.

What do I say to all of us?

Dream big! Have faith! Believe in the possibility of the impossible! But let's put our money where are mouth is - so to speak. Can you imagine if you have the next multimillion dollar idea and you don't pursue it? Did you know that we have the light today because Edison failed thousands of times before the invention of the filament? Did you know that there were 20 or so investors in front of Ray Croc when he pitched the idea of a franchise - namely McDonalds and less than a handful bought into the idea? Did you know that Colonel Sanders was almost a senior citizen when he finally stablished Kentucky Fried Chicken? You didn't know? Well, neither did they until they went out and did it. And did it again until they finally got it right!

Last words:

Action is faith visible.