This is National Fluffernutter Day.

In case you don’t know, a fluffernutter is a sandwich made with lightly toasted white bread, peanut butter, marshmallow cream, and chocolate topping. Sounds rich and delicious, but oh so fatty.

What a combination! How do cooks and chefs think up recipes like that? Do you suppose they suddenly think “Hey, I’ll mix peanut butter and marshmallow cream” or do they have a more scientific approach? Maybe it’s just trial and error. First they try peanut butter and mustard (yuck!), then peanut butter and barbeque sauce (no!), then cabbage, then . . . How’d you like to taste-test those combinations?

Some food combinations sound weird but taste great. A fluffernutter is one of those.

Here’s another unusual combination—faith and works. How is it unusual? You see, some people think a person can get right with God by doing good works, and that if a person’s good acts outweigh the bad ones, he or she will get into Heaven. The Bible clearly teaches, however, that people are saved by grace through faith (see Ephesians 2:8, 9). But then in James (today’s verse), we see faith and works together. It seems to say that faith and works have to be combined. Are you confused?

James is not saying that we do good deeds in order to be saved. Instead, he is saying that faith in Christ results in good deeds. That is, we do what is right because we know God—not to make us right with him.

Talk is cheap. But works show whether or not a person truly has faith. A person becomes a Christian by trusting in Christ—that’s it. But then he or she lives differently, reading God’s Word and doing what it says.

Faith and works—they really do go together.

So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless (James 2:17).

To Do

Ask your mom to make a fluffernutter sandwich for you. When she asks what it is, explain that it’s a lot like faith and works—an unusual combination—but it tastes yummy. Then make one for her!

Also on this day

This is National Children’s Day. Give yourself a present!

1871—The Great Fire of Chicago started, eventually destroying about 17,450 buildings.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.