Do what it says.

  

  I've mentioned that I'm committing to reading my Bible more and digging deeper this year and I guess this is a sort of update? I'm reading through the Bible and right now I'm in both Job and James {with this plan}. It's really shaking me up. Both are books I've read lots of times before, but I'm seeing them so differently right now- reading them side by side. I can't stop thinking about how Job's friends really suck at comforting him and how James says it's not enough just to say we love Jesus, but we have to show it by loving others. Those two go together, amIright? Faith in action, or in Job's case, not in action. We can't read the Bible or sit in Church or see a Jesus-y post on Instagram, shake our heads like 'yes! I totally agree!' and then just move on. We have to do something with the wisdom we're gaining. We have to live out the Gospel, whatever that means.
  What does that mean? How could Job's friends have been less sucky? How can we listen to James 1:22 and not just believe in the Gospel, but also do what it says? The way we love people is a reflection of how we love Jesus, right? So how do we do it? We all have our things, our go-to ways to let other people know we care. For me, it's cards and care packages in the mail. Or intentional coffee dates. But that's not for everyone, right? So what if what I'm doing isn't working? What needs around me are going unmet because I'm nervous it will be awkward or not received well or whatever stupid thing I'm worrying about or putting it off for? It's like, no one wants to be a bad friend or to purposefully overlook real needs or to not put our faith into action. I think we just get caught up in how. And not just with the hard stuff like death and tragedy, but in the easy stuff too. 
  Maybe this is only relevant to me because figuring out how to love people well has been on my mind for the last few months and, as I'm getting ready to retire my social work license, I'm also praying a lot about how living out my faith will look in this season of life. But Job and James are really getting to me today. 
   Gah. That was a lot of word vomit, I know. But I can't be the only one who wrestles with this, right? Even if I am, humor me. How do you practice living out your faith in relationships with others? What does that look like or mean to you? Or, let's talk about our buddy Job. Have you been in his shoes before where your friends had the best of intentions, but really just sucked? Or did an awesome job? What did they did? Let's chat about this.