Fat or...?

I happened to catch a glimpse of a blog post title the other day, "Are you a fat Christian?"  I did not read the post but the title made me chuckle.  I assume what the author meant by a fat Christian was a Christian who didn't do much of anything and so became spiritually "fat"  the way we can become physically "fat" if we sit around and don't do much of anything.  I really don't know for sure but it did lead me to ponder.

Can a Christian be spiritually fat and still be a Christian?  Can someone who claims to believe that Jesus came to earth as a man, lived a life of service, died a criminal's death in our place and then rose again to live forever carrying our name before the throne, be spiritually fat and still be a Christian?

Consider how a young woman would feel if the young man she was interested in declared his love for her but then rarely if ever called her to chat or invite her out on a date.  How would she feel if he criticized her choice of clothing or hairstyle, but continued to state his love for her?  How would she feel if he didn't show up when she invited him to her birthday party?  What if he said that he didn't come because he wanted to watch a sporting event instead?  This is nonsense.  She would know for certain that he did not love her.  Those words would be completely worthless to her.

Consider the words of James where he says, 

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?  So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  James 2:14-18 (ESV)

James is trying to show how illogical it is to say that you believe in something if you do not act in accordance with that belief.  Earlier in James he tells us that true religion takes care of the orphans and widows (1:27).  There is no true faith in Christ if there is no service.

Do not take this to mean that somehow we can be saved by our works.  Absolutely not.  There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  We are saved by the grace of God.  That grace and the joy of realizing what it has done for us compels us to serve.

James says that faith without works is dead.  I would have to say that there is no such thing as a "fat" Christian.  That so-called Christian is dead.

(My apologies to the author of the post with the title that sparked these thoughts.  I may have gone off in a completely different direction.)