James 2:14-26 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

Faith and Deeds

14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[a]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[b] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

[Note by jim:

I don't do works or deeds for my salvation, because Jesus already did that when he died on the cross ["It is Finished." (Jn. 19:30)], and arose from the dead. I do deeds 'cause I feel it is the only way I can show my love for His Love on the cross. He asked us to Love God the Father and Love everybody else even our enemies as we love ourselves.]
 

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true friends; succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest & frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.
Give the world your best anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway."

--Mother Teresa

"What you will do matters. All you need is to do it."

--Judy Grahn

"Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world."

--Annie Lennox

"I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people who are convinced they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another."

--Ellen Goodman

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

--Pericles. Athenian statesman and politician, 495-425ac

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love."

--Mother Teresa

"You will find that the mere resolve not to be useless, and the honest desire to help other people, will, in the quickest and delicatest ways, improve yourself."

--John Ruskin

"We need to have a mindset of letting God use us to make somebody else's life better. When we do that, then there's a joy released in us that we're not ever going to get anywhere else."

--Joyce Meyer

"Nothing makes you like other human beings so much as doing things for them."

--Zora Neale Hurston

"Let everyone understand that the real love of God does not consist in tear-shedding...but in serving God by serving those around us, in justice, fortitude of soul, and humility."

--St. Teresa of Avila

"If we pray, we will believe;
If we believe, we will love;
If we love, we will serve."

--Mother Teresa

"The best cure for worry, depression, melancholy, brooding, is to go deliberately forth and try to lift with one's sympathy the gloom of somebody else."

--Arnold Bennett

"When you help someone up a hill, you're that much nearer the top yourself."

-- Anonymous

"To handle yourself, use your head. To handle others, use your heart."

-- Anonymous

"To love God in the most practical way is to love our fellow beings. If we feel for others in the same way as we feel for our own dear ones, we love God."

-- Meher Baba (1894-1969)

"It is not how much we do,

but how much love we put in the doing.

It is not how much we give,

but how much love we put in the giving."

-- Mother Teresa