Daniel Doriani shares this analogy in his commentary for James 2:15-17:

It is easy to see analogies to James’s scene today. If a friend is unemployed, false faith says, “Hang in there; the Lord will provide.” If a single mother with small children is sick, false faith says: “Take it easy. Don’t do too much; we are thinking of you.”

James does not require believers to do everything, but we must do something when we see a brother in need. For example, when someone is sick, a “How are you doing” phone call may be a burden more than an encouragement. If a sister is ill, it is better to bring a meal and say the encouraging words at the door as you deliver it.

There is a missions-minded seminary professor who teaches at an understaffed Romanian seminary each spring and fall. In the fall, he adds a trip for a training conference in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Before a recent trip, a member of his church gave a thousand dollars so that each of that year’s graduates could have a Greek New Testament. For Romanians, such a Bible might cost two weeks’ salary. A second person slipped him fifty dollars to give to someone really needy in Sudan. In Khartoum it is relatively safe to be a Christian, but elsewhere Christians have been beaten, killed, enslaved, starved, and shoved off the land so the Muslim government can control the oil-laden regions many Christians inhabit. The professor gave the money to a man who was on crutches. He had professed Christ, and Muslims had broken his leg, so that he was disabled for a long time. In Sudan, fifty dollars can go a long way. Both gifts followed the spirit of James. The church members gave what they could to brothers with needs.

These individual acts are truly commendable, but the Christian community must also seek ways to collaborate both to train those who have a desire to engage in deeds of mercy and to marshal resources for larger projects. Sadly, many churches fail to support ministries of mercy as they should. They give preeminence to individual needs over social dimensions of the gospel. They fail to build bridges to their community and to like-minded partner churches. They let the needs of a few drain too much energy. It is a ministry in itself to recruit, train, and organize those who feel called to ministries of mercy.

But the idle wish “keep warm and well fed” fails the tests of true religion (James 1:26-27). Idle wishes indulge the tongue, rather than controlling it. Mere talk does nothing for the poor. And it is thoroughly worldly to let sentimental talk supplant loving deeds. Warm sentiments, without action, mark false, vain religion. Indeed, spurious faith is ineffective manward. James says, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:17 ESV). The phrase “by itself” is crucial. Genuine, living faith is never by itself. A “faith” that has no deeds is lifeless. Such faith is inherently defective and produces no works for that reason.

James, Reformed Expository Commentary, by Daniel, M. Doriani, pp. 85-86