James 2:14-24. James is reminding us that faith without works is meaningless - the demons have the same. Faith alone cannot save us, we must also, in action, follow God's commands - by caring for the poor and suffering, yes, but also in whatever works God asks of us. As an example, James points to Abraham who, because he had true faith, was willing to sacrifice his son! Because of this willingness to do this, he was deemed righteous and a friend of God.

This is a famous (or infamous) passage from James, and the main reason that James' letter is not included in many Protestant versions of the Bible. As Paul, and Peter, and many others tell us, we can be and are saved only by Christ - we cannot earn our salvation - we are simply incapable of it. This is correct, of course! But where people who reject James' letter go wrong is to misconstrue James as saying that by doing these works we are earning our salvation somehow. That is not at all what James is saying, but it is, unfortunately, what many who do good works think of themselves, and then they often lord it over others.

James is, instead, saying that even the demons believe in God - they have "faith." It is not enough to know God and believe in him, it is not merely a logical, reasonable acceptance of reality. We muslt allow our knowledge of God, our faith, to touch our hearts, to permeate us in such a way that we want nothing but to do whatever God wants us to do. This is where the demons differ - they know God, but want to do what they want to do. When faith touches us like this, when we trust God, and love him so completely, we will naturally see and treat others as he would - out of love. It hurts our hearts to see someone without enough food or clothing, or suffering in some other way, because it hurts God's heart, and we want to help them - not for bragging rights or a salvation scorecard, but because we love them. It just flows from us. If fur faith does not touch our hearts enough to prompt this kind of reaction, then it is not enough - we have further to go, and that is what James is reminding us of. 

Also, James uses the example of Abraham to show that God's test of Abraham's faith was not in asking him to do good works, but in asking him for the sacrifice of his son - something Abraham obviously didn't want to do! But because his faith was so great, Abraham trusted God, and was willing to obey.

This is true faith. Our brothers and sisters may not be doing the "good works" we think they should be, but we must not judge them for that. We do not know what works God is calling them to do and they are doing. (For example, I truly feel that doing this blog is something God is calling me to do, and I often don't want to do it - like today! I am on vacation right now, and doing this from the beach!😁).

Our works are not merit badges to get us to heaven, they are between us and God, and God will put in the hearts of those who trust him the works he wants them to do. James is just saying how our faith will lead us to do them, and without them our faith is not yet fully alive.