When I was in junior high, I went to the Minnesota state fair (go MN!) with two of my best friends. We were enjoying the rides, the cheese curds, and funnel cake (okay, so mostly the food) when a man approached us and introduced himself. Now, I don't remember at all who he was, but he began by asking us: "Do you think you will go to heaven?" We all hesitated, and I probably let out an "I sure hope so!" He then asked us if we had faith in Jesus Christ, to which we all said yes. He told us with a smile on his face that we were absolutely going to heaven! That all we must do is declare our faith in Christ and we are set to go! After he had spoken his peace we politely smiled, nodded, and walked away.
I must say this man was an example of one of the nicest people I've ever had random religious talk with. Most of them tell me that I'm going straight to the opposite destination when they hear I'm Mormon (HA!), so this was a nice change. But I will say now that I disagree with what he said.
Declaring your faith in Jesus Christ is absolutely important and good. But that does not mean we are done there.
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works" (James 2:17-18).
If we truly have faith in God and in Jesus Christ, we will not stop there. Our faith will motivate our works. It will motivate us to act. My faith in Christ is what makes me want to serve others and do good works. I strive to show my faith by my works and my actions.
Just declaring our faith is not good enough. In fact, I think the more faith we have in Christ, the more we are expected to do something about it. The more faith we have, the more we are expected to serve our fellow man just as Christ served us. We must live lives that demonstrate our faith.
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).
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