In the movie Weekend at Bernie's the two main characters were invited to spend the weekend at a beach house and upon arrival, discovered the owner of the house had just died. Not wanting to spoil their weekend they came up with a plan to prop the body up in a chair and place a hat and sun glasses on it's head to give the appearance that the man was still alive. Then they would be able to have their party and no one would know the difference. The body, being dead, appeared alive to the party goers. The Bible describes death as a body without the spirit. Once the spirit is gone, the body is no longer a person no matter what you try to make it look like. You can prop a body up or carry it through motions like the men in this movie but it doesn't make it alive. It's still a lifeless body. According to the Bible, it's the same way with faith. James 2:26 says "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." You can act like you want to, say what you want to, look like you want to, but if there are no works in you then your faith is dead. Likewise you can lack real faith and try to go through the motions of works to gain the appearance of faith. That is like the two men carrying around Bernie's body to give it the appearance of life. Although faith is evidenced by works, true faith does not come by works. Fooling some people, including yourself, won't make it real any more than propping up a dead body makes a person alive.
