Stiff as a Corpse

When I lived in Calgary, I worked as a crisis intervention worker at Foothills Hospital for four years. During that time, I carried a pager and would get “buzzed” when there was a crisis. Now, a crisis in a hospital occurs when the very capable staff are facing a situation they cannot handle or take the time to handle.

When my buzzer went off, it was something unusual, often horrific or sad. Shootings, drownings, car accidents caused by drunk drivers, family anger and fights in the waiting room, and police officers melting down after being in some situation that pushed them over the line. I never knew what I would walk into, but often, a corpse was involved. A corpse has the appearance of being a person yet is totally lifeless. It is just a body, a container of sorts, created to hold the living “spirit” of our very being.

“Anyone who doesn’t breathe is dead, and faith that doesn’t do anything is just as dead!” (v 26 CEV). James says this to illustrate how we cannot claim to be a Christ follower and not have it affect our actions and behaviour. If you claim to be a Christian, yet there is nothing in your behaviour that shows any Jesus likeness, such as care for the poor, righteousness, and good works, then James says you are either stupid or lying.

James links our faith and the works of our lives in the same sentence. “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (v 17)!

I remember looking at those corpses. Lifeless, still, pale and quiet. If you are “alive” in Christ, then do something about it. Act on your belief and faith. Become the hands and feet of Jesus. Do what he would do. Go where he would go. Be loving.

Respond in Prayer

Jesus, Inspire me through your Spirit to act in a way that puts my faith into action. May I, every day, act more and more like you, filled with life, vitality, love, and joy—not as one who seems dead.

Carson Pue