"What good is it?"

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?             James 2:14-16 

"What good is it?" That question bookends the challenge. Beth Moore points this out in James, Mercy Triumphs. It is the question that stuns me today. "What good is it? What am I doing that is the fruit of my faith? Do my actions give life and breath to my faith? Do my actions make a difference, not to me, but in the lives of other people?"

Humbling question. 

And what is my motive for doing "deeds" and taking action. To "get" or manipulate some response? To receive accolades? To accumulate? 

James uses the example of caring for, providing for someone else's needs. That's the test.