Can you see my faith in God?

I read James chapter 2 this morning and a couple of things jumped out at me.

1) I am not supposed to show favoritism
2) I am supposed to show my faith

I will save the favoritism comments for another day. As I was reading today, I wondered if anyone could see my faith in God. Am I showing what I believe by what I do or do I have to tell people what I believe?

Honestly this question is not so big a deal if I just think about it to myself. However, if God were to ask me this question I would be very nervous. I would probably be even more nervous if He were to rewind and show me how I live.

Beginning in verse 14 of chapter 2 James begins to talk about faith and deeds. In verse 19 he says, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." You may have already heard this discussion in many forms in your world. I know I had. But it hit me fresh today.

As I was thinking about that verse, it occurred to me that the word "show" here is very important to James' point. Read the definitions of "show" below.

to cause or permit to be seen : exhibit
to present as a public spectacle : perform
to reveal by one's condition, nature, or behavior

Now reread those definitions and think about how you can do that with your mouth. Of course you can show that you have changed by not saying some of the stuff you were saying before you believed but to truly "show" your faith you have to be DOING something.

This is applicable no matter what or who you have faith in. If you truly have faith in a sports team you wear the shirt, jersey or cap. You don't just tell people. If your faith is in your job you will work 12 hour days or wear an embroidered shirt. Those are things people can see that show your faith/allegiance.

So here is the question that I must consider, that you must consider, "What am I doing that shows my faith in God?" I could say, "well I work for the church." Please believe me when I tell you I could work for the church and go about my business here without any more consideration of God than you must show at your job. I hope I consider Him in all I do, but it would be easy not to.

We could ask why it matters. I mean after all God knows our hearts. But read what James says in verse 26, "As the body with the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." I believe James is dead on here. Of course, it is in the Bible so that helps me believe this but, I know for me that I never feel more alive than when I am doing something for someone in God's name. I believe this feeling comes from my spirit being awakened as it moves closer to being like Jesus.

So for me, I know that I must be doing something consistently that allows me to show my faith in God. Look back at the definitions above and think about it. I am permitting something to be seen, I am presenting a spectacle and I am revealing by my behavior.

But am I "showing" my faith in God or something else??

God, give me a desire to show you in EVERYTHING I do.