Faith: Belief in Action

I have begun this posting about three different times, trying to approach faith from several different angles, I believe. But in the end, all I can say is this: the strength of our faith is not dependent upon the size of our faith (Jesus said that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains – see Matthew 17:20). Rather, the strength of our faith is dependent on the size of the “object” of our faith: GOD. So how big is God to you? And which of us doubts HIS strength? It’s impossible to doubt Who He is, for we only need to look around us and say to ourselves: “God was able to create all that I see by just ‘speaking’ it into being. Then He created man. What is there that He is not able to do? Nothing!” So, you must know WHO it is you are putting your faith (or trust) in. And there you have faith. Or do you?

For many believe that God is able to do all things, and yet many of those same folks live lives that show that while they ‘say’ they trust God, their actions indicate that they really believe that they have to rely upon themselves or others for the things they need, sometimes even for their salvation, rather than relying completely and totally on God. I think this is an important part of faith that many of us miss: that our actions must match our words. When they don’t match, then our lack of faith is showing.

The book of James says: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20 KJV) In other words, while ‘believing’ is a good and necessary thing, it amounts to nothing (“is dead”) if it isn’t shown to be ‘alive’ with corresponding actions that give proof to the fact that we do, in fact, believe that what God says is true.

Many of us try to put the cart before the horse, in this case, works before faith; and in doing so, we sin. We try to please God by our actions, and hope that because of our actions we will please Him and He will love us; rather than knowing (by faith) how much He already loves us, and then allowing our actions to flow out of our love and gratitude for Him. We must know that our actions gain us nothing, for we already have all that we need from God in Christ Jesus. Hebrew 11:6 says: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him [God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

Our actions are simply a demonstration of the faith we have in God. Our God is:

…..the same God who “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV);

…the same God who “commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 KJV);

…the same God who “loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10 KJV);

…the same God who “hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:11-12 KJV).

Perhaps the most important aspect of faith (or what we believe to be true about God) is that He loved us enough to die for us, even though we were such sinners, and that He loves us still. When we believe that to be true, that He loved even the despicable sinners that we were, then it becomes very easy to love all others, even those who have sinned against us, knowing that God loves them equally as He does us, and that He died for them as well. Then our actions, as those of the ten Boom family, will speak clearly of our faith in God.

[This blog is an ongoing study of the lives and the faith of Christian women who have experienced and demonstrated victorious living through Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The current study is about Corrie ten Boom which began on September 21, 2009.]