It can be devilishly hard to pick fresh fruit at the grocery. An apple might appear perfectly ripe, but then one bite, and it is rock hard. A pear can appear rock hard, then one cuts it and it’s mush in the middle. It gets worse with melons or avocados. That rind makes it nearly impossible to know if it’s ready to use or not.

Well, oddly, the same is true about trying to determine who really is a person of faith. Outward appearances can be deceptive. If we do the right thing and decide not to try and judge other folks’ level of faith, nothing is simplified, for determining one’s own faith can be particularly difficult. We deal with nagging questions and doubts. We deal with our own inability to live out the precepts of the faith we confess. We find ourselves wandering lost. How can we be sure we’re all right?

The quick answer the church invariably offers is that it is a matter of grace--that we need not fear, for in the eyes of God, all are the same, and through grace, all have the ability to stand in faith before God.

That’s sound theology, but it doesn’t really help, for it does nothing to truly silence the nagging questions within us. I wish it did. But the truth is that here, a week removed from Easter, there are a good many Doubting Thomases among us. We have questions. We have our moments when nothing about faith makes sense, and we actually feel we might be better off moving in another direction. Perhaps there is some security and meaning to be found elsewhere in a more tangible form. We buy a home security system. We shore up our savings using E-Trade. We acquire a big dog. We focus on the outside, but sadly, the questions are all still inside, and nothing we have added to our stuff has answered any of them.

James reorients our vision. He does not offer a glib or easy solution, but he directs us to where we need to look. Hear again what he says--

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above…

James tells us to look at our lives--would we define our lives as being generous?

Here is the first difficulty. We would all agree that generosity is a good quality to have. We know that we need to share what we have with the people around us. We know we should contribute to worthy causes and care for the needy. We know we should support the church and give to charitable institutions. We know we should be open handed in dealing with friends and family. We know all of that, but still we would confess that being generous does not necessarily come naturally to us. There is a part of us that wants to hold back; that wants to hoard just a bit, just in case we ourselves grow needy. We want insurance.

If any of us doubt this, simply ask this basic question--has anyone here actually done what Jesus suggested and sold all that they had and given it to the poor?

However, that does not change the power of what James says. We know that if we do in fact become generous in any of the nearly infinite forms that generosity can take, we feel better about ourselves. It feels good to help someone else. It feels good to turn our focus outward. It feels good to know we did the right thing. One of the most positive church meetings anyone can attend is to sit with either our Local Missions or Global Missions Ministries when they sit down and decide where to give money away. That meeting feels great and one leaves with a little bounce. Another opportunity is our annual Christmas caroling trip among folks in the church who need the lift. We feel great as we drive away, having made someone’s evening a little brighter through the simple act of singing. James tells us why--when we act in such a way, we tie ourselves directly to the presence and power of God--for that moment we are one with the Lord.

And for that moment, the questions and doubts fall silent, even the questions fired by self-doubt.

The reason is that in that experience we are drawn into the unchanging being and life of God. God never changes. God never falters. God is eternally the same. That eternity is the source of unshakable certainty--there is no question about purpose or meaning within the being of God. As John writes, God is love. When we act according to that love, we are bound up in it. Our questions cease.

In that moment and in that discovery, we are caught up in James’ great affirmation--

In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

In other words, we become signs of God’s grace within creation itself, proclaiming God’s redemption in the simple fact of our own existence as a fellowship of faith. Now that’s easy. All we have to do is continue to gather and continue to give and to serve the needs of the world around us. That’s all there is to it.

Yes, and an avocado can look so wonderful until you peel it.

Well, there is always room for grace.