Taking action

Personal Photo: I took this photo in Maui, entirely captivated by the gentleness of these beautiful creatures. I love that God is all around us, in every nook and cranny, and we have the chance to appreciate His craftmanship at every single turn.

I steadied my hand underwater, the one that held my camera, and I zoomed in to get a clear shot of the sea turtle that suddenly appeared from the depths of the blue water and grazed along the coral below me. I was in Hawaii, snorkeling off of a sailboat in the Pacific Ocean, and blessed was an understatement. I have always been captivated by the ocean and the wildlife that thrives in the cool blue water, but it took me travelling across the world to really, truly fall in love with sea turtles. Every trip to the Hawaiian Islands allowed me to rediscover my appreciation for the beasts, the endangered species that perused the waters, patiently gliding through the deep blue, and sticking to the safety of corals and rocks. No matter how many we saw in total, each new spotting was a treat, and we would alert the others through the snorkel, the muffled sound of "turtle" being so distinct and recognizable.

I have been blessed to see so many turtles in the water, and sometimes quite close, but I often consider the path it must have taken to live as long as it has that I could witness its beauty today. It is estimated that only one out of every thousand sea turtles live to adulthood, the most treacherous path being the one back to the ocean once hatching on the beach. When making the trek to the water, turtles are entirely exposed to predators, including birds, raccoons, and others. The safety of the water is worth the journey to get there, regardless of the risks, but I can't help but consider how important it is that the baby turtles do not stay put, but that they take action.

When we consider ourselves, and how we can relate to the turtle's inspiration to take action, it is no wonder the success of seeing a sea turtle in the water is such a magnificent sight. For us, staying firmly planted in one place in our journey of faith is essentially rendering us useless for Christ, and solidifies the certainty of death. Faith is action. We cannot expect to ever make it to the water, to make it to Heaven, without putting our faith into action, for faith without action is dead faith. James 2:26 tells us "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." I want to be clear that our good works do not get us into Heaven, and we cannot purchase a ticket to everlasting life by being a good person, but rather that faith comes first, and action comes second. We are kind, generous, and friendly because we have already been forgiven and accepted the gift of salvation from Christ. In this way, the verse from James explains to us the importance of applying our faith to our lives. When we accept Christ into our lives, it changes and inspires us, and if we find ourselves uninspired and unchanged, then we have not accepted Christ. We do good works and put our faith into action because we are imitators of the Lord, representations of the love He bestows upon us.

We demonstrate our faith by the things we do in this life. If we say we have faith, but we do not take action from it, the faith is dead. James 2:18 states "But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." This verse highlights the irony of trying to separate the things we do, the actions we take, from our faith. Faith with no action is not faith at all, but rather we can represent the power of our firm roots in God by the things we do, the things we say, the way we conduct ourselves every day. I love this verse because it really can mean anything from grand and intense leaps of faith all the way down to the nitty gritty of every single day. Faith inspires the types of people we are, the way we interact with others, the chances we take to give freely of ourselves in generosity, kindness, and patience. The verse from James clarifies to us how insignificant our works become when we do them only to buy our way to Heaven. The action we take stems from our faith in God, and it allows us to share God's love and light with the world, giving Him glory.

I mentioned that faith without action is dead faith, and I consider ourselves stuck in one spot, unable to grow, just waiting for the devil to pounce on us. It is always worth it to take action. Just like the sea turtles, we take risks, expose ourselves, and can find ourselves scared and lost when we take leaps of faith. However, we take these leaps anyway, knowing and trusting that the Lord will see us through, protect us, and guide us. Hebrews 11:1 explains to us that "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Understanding this allows us to appreciate the steps out of our comfort zone that we take in order to give glory to God, the times we hurt because we loved too hard, the spurts of growth we experienced when we challenged ourselves to remain firm in a world full of temptations. We put ourselves out there and love like the Lord because our faith tells us we are serving God when we do these things, and that we will have our reward in Heaven.

Trusting and building our faith in God inspires us to take action, to always seek new ways to grow, to share the love of the Lord with our peers, and to make a difference in His name. It can be tempting to stay in the alluring facade of safety on shore, but we know our home is in Heaven with the Lord. There is only one way to get there, and that is by putting that faith into action every single day. The Holy Spirit will always guide us to the place we need to go, God will always protect His beloved children, and Christ's gift of salvation will always bring us peace when we feel exposed and vulnerable. I pray we all find new sources of inspiration, create new opportunities to give God glory, and grow in our journey of faith by putting it into action!