Times they are a changing...

As we look around, we see signs of change everywhere.  Inflation has pushed prices to insane levels: $3+ gas, $3 milk, $1+ bread, and on and on.  As we see the prices tick ever upward, there are several factors at work: higher wages across the board mean higher prices for things across the board, higher gasoline prices make transit costs increase causing item prices to increase, taxation rates, demand, etc.  As we see these increases, the people who are hurt the most are those who sit on the edge of poverty or below.  When it's harder to provide for one's own family, it's harder to help out someone else!

But, the call of everyone who believes in Jesus is to care for the oppressed, orphans, widows, and poor (James 1.22-27):  

...don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.  If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you....

Notice the emphasis- hearing leads to doing.  Belief leads to action, else it is not genuine belief!   In fact, James continues the idea throughout the letter, with the strongest points made later (James 2.14-17):

...do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

I may have said these words until I'm blue in the face, but it's still just as true and just as important!  Saying something means jack squat.  Doing something is where the rubber meets the proverbial road.  If you don't love others, there's something seriously wrong with your belief.  If you're not actively trying to help where you see a need, there's an issue with your religion.  If you're fine with the fact that people around you are destined to hell without Jesus, you must not have actually heard what He said!  True religion (what God desires from us), isn't about us but about how we are useful in the bigger picture.  Saying something to the homeless guy you pass on the highway is all well and good, but it isn't  what God has called us to.  This sounds hard, but honestly, He's made it abundantly clear who we are to be (Micah 6.8):

...the Lord has told you what is good,and this is what he requires of you:to do what is right, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your God...

 So, were you paying attention to what you've heard?  Do you actually believe what you claim to be?  Then what do your actions show?  Because religion without love is dead.  Life without Jesus isn't life.  And who we are is defined not by what we say, what we pay lip service to, what we claim to believe but by how we live.  So, what about you: are you who you say you are?  What does your life show people?  Is Jesus the overarching theme in your life so people who see you wonder what makes you so different?  If not, why?  Because there's no better time than right now to start the change and become someone who doesn't just know what they believe or take ownership of those beliefs, but is known for living out those beliefs.