When our faith becomes action

Last night after a Wednesday night church meeting a friend of mine approached me in the church parking lot. He told me that earlier in the day a woman whom he did not know called him and asked if he could offer her and her husband some financial assistance. My friend told me that this caught him off guard since he wasn't sure how the woman got his name or why she called him. He agreed to go to her house and when he arrived he saw a sight that moved his soul.

The woman who had called him was disabled with severe back problems and her husband was wheelchair-bound with an amputated leg. They were existing on only $600 a month and just recently the power company had shut off their power because they could not pay their bill. When my friend arrived he found them sitting outside because it was too hot in their trailer. This family asked my friend if there was any way that he or anyone else could help them to get their power turned back on. The woman had been calling around all day trying to find help and somehow she stumbled upon my friend's number. Upon seeing their condition and their need, my friend became Jesus to this family. He gave them a check to pay for what he could and then he set out that night to find others who could help finish off the power bill. He was not going to stop until he had helped this family.

I went with him to the couple's home and saw that they were still sitting in the dark. We were able to provide them with the remainder of the power bill money as well as some grocery money so that they would have some food to put into their cabinets. After we prayed with them we headed back toward the church in my friend's truck. On the ride back I noticed on his face a look of complete satisfaction. His satisfaction was not because of anything he did - it was because of what he allowed Jesus to do through him. In that moment his faith went beyond what he had merely learned about in church or studied in his Bible; his faith became action and I could see the profound impact that it had on his life.