Knowledge + Action = Faith

“Faith is believing in what you can’t see, following a voice you can’t prove you heard and living by principles that God says are true but don’t make sense in this world.” I can’t remember exactly where I found this particular quote, however, it does a great job of expressing who I am at my core and what I stand on as I walk through life each day.

I remember a discussion on the passage in James (James 2:14-26) about faith and good deeds with a group of elders at church many years ago. When asked what I thought the scripture meant, I explained good deeds where an outward expression of your faith in a loving God. They all looked at me and said no, that’s not it at all. I honestly don’t remember what their explanation was, all I recall is it seemed very ‘religious’.

I kept thinking to myself how could they not see what I was seeing in the passage…what is faith without action and why would I show love to a complete stranger without the love of God in my heart? The only way for me to have His love in me is to believe He is real and that’s all done through faith.

As Christ followers the Lord asks us to have faith in Him each day. Faith He loves us when times are hard, faith when He asks us to step out of our comfort zone, faith when He says love the unloved, faith when He say pay it forward, faith that He has the perfect plan, the perfect spouse and the perfect life all planned out for us.

You can not live a life of faith standing on the sidelines shouting. As we say in drag racing, “Ya got to be in it (the race) to win it.” The only difference between racing and life…what’s at stake.

Blessings

Knowledge + Action = Faith
by Os Hillman

“For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” – Hebrews 4:2

The people of Israel were called out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery. God said they would be brought out of 400 years of slavery so that they might worship Him. God desired to bring them into a place of milk and honey – the Promised Land. Yet that generation never entered into the Promised Land. Why? They never took what they knew in their head and transferred it to their heart. Finally, it never resulted in actions that were based on what they believed.

When I was a new Christian I heard an illustration of what belief and faith looked like when combined. If you were a trapeze artist and were skilled at walking across tightropes over high places, you might even be willing to walk across Niagara Falls. In fact, I would have confidence that you could because I had seen your abilities as a trapeze artist. However, if you asked me if you could push me in a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls, you would be challenging me to put my beliefs into action. This requires faith, participation, and risk, which, until now, was based only on mental assent.

The writer of Hebrews is telling us that if we believe God but do not enter in to those promises, we are like the man who chooses not to get into the wheelbarrow. If we don’t act on our beliefs, then we remain in the desert like the people of Israel who never received God’s promises. They did not combine what they knew in their head with a faith that was put into action.

Has God spoken to you about an area in your life that requires a step of faith? Let God provide the courage, as He does the knowledge, to act in faith on what you believe.