CHRISTLIKE CONDUCT: THE GOAL OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect.
JAMES 2:22
Rightly understood, faith is not a substitute for moral conduct but a means toward it.
The tree does not serve in lieu of fruit but as an agent by which fruit is secured. Fruit, not trees, is what God has in mind in yonder orchard; so Christlike conduct is the end of the Christian faith! To oppose faith to works is to make the fruit the enemy to the tree; yet that is exactly what we have managed to do and the consequences have been disastrous!
In practice we may detect the subtle (and often unconscious) substitution when we hear a Christian assure someone that he will “pray over his problem,” knowing full well that he intends to use prayer as a substitute for service. It is much easier to pray that a poor friend’s needs may be supplied than to supply them! The mystical John noted the incongruity involved in substituting religion for action: “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
A proper understanding of our spiritual foundation will destroy the false and artificial “either/or.” Then we will have not less faith but more godly works; not less praying but more serving; not fewer words but more holy deeds; not weaker profession but more courageous possession; not a religion as a substitute for action but religion in faith-filled action! And what is that but to say that we will have come again to the teaching of the New Testament?

A. W. Tozer