Judy, What do you believe?

James 2:22
You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did. (NIV)

KJV translate the phrase 'his faith and his actions were working together' as 'his faith wrought with his works'

[faith]- pistis (pis-tis) that which you believe to be true; your system of beliefs

[wrought] -sunergeo (soon-erg-eh-o) to co-operate with and help with work;

companion in labor

[works] -ergon (er-gon) to toil; to act; deed; the result of employment

So (in reference to Abraham), his faith, or what he believed to be true about God,in fact, believing the promises that God had made him, was a companion with the things he did as a result of obedience to God.

I like the word wrought because it reminds me of wrought iron and how the metals are "melted" together for a purpose. Our "faith" has to be "melted" with our obedience to God's word in order to have the result that the last part of this verse talks about....

and his faith was made complete by what he did.

KJV translates the word complete as perfect

[faith] pistis

[perfect] teleioo (tel-i-o-o) to accomplish or to consummate in character (figurative); to

to make perfect by reaching the intended goal.

And this is my favorite part...What do I think of when I see the word consummate? There is only one definition in the English dictionary. So it says to me that what I believe and what I do because of what I believe are melted together as intrinsically as is the bond of marriage between a man and woman before God.

The intended goal for us is to DO what we BELIEVE. The intended goal is to have what we believe about God to be intrinsically woven into what we do.

Now, what am I going to do about it?