HAPPY 4th of July! This is our Wednesday Devotional from our booklet:

SCRIPTURE: Read - James 2:14-17, 24-26

THOUGHTS: “You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” Has anyone ever said that to you before? I can bet not too many people say that nowadays, but you probably at least know what it means.

If you try and talk big about something, like how you can jump off a three story building, turn a double backwards somersault, and still land on your feet unhurt, someone might call you out on that. You can brag a lot about things you might (or might not!) be able to do, but eventually someone is going to call your bluff!

In the verses you’ve already read, James says that faith alone is dead if there is no action to go along with it. At the same time, when you brag about doing something incredibly awesome, it means nothing until you show your friends that you can actually do it.

You see, we can believe in Jesus - that he is the son of God, died for us, and rose from the dead three days later - but if our lives don’t reflect the fact that we are followers of Jesus Christ, it basically means nothing! We have to actually live our lives to show that we follow God instead of just talking about it.

It’s not enough for us to say that we believe in God - our lives need to show that we love and follow Christ! People should be able to look at the way we live our lives and know that we are passionately in love with God because of the way we talk to people, act around our friends, and everything else we do!

PRAYER: Ask God to help you live a genuine life that shows others that you follow Christ. Pray that whatever you do, it will be what God wants, and that your actions honor God.

Caleb Jordan wrote the Wednesday Edition.  Caleb is serving as another one of our interns.   He has been with our ministry for about a year and a half.  He does a great job leading a group of our 8th grade guys.  Also, Caleb spoke at IGNITE this past week and did a great job!