Faith is a verb. It inspires. It moves. It motivates. It impacts. It is a response to a committed belief. It is a decision based on foundation. I don't know if there is such a thing as blind faith when it comes to our interaction with God. True, there are things we cannot know, but there are truths that comprise a foundation in our relationship with Him. We know of His character. We know of His design. We know of His intentions. We know of His promises. These things, among others, provide the support for us to have real faith, not blind, ignorant, powerless faith. I think everyone must agree that trust is faith's close relative.
Now, if trust is faith's close relative, then belief may be a more distant cousin, and this is only because belief may or may not inspire action. Consider the demons, for instance. They knew exactly who Jesus was, for they recognized him from when they used to fellowship with Him in heaven before Satan and his cohorts fell. Interesting. Of all beings Jesus encountered, the demons seemed to be the only ones that really knew Him right off the bat. Anyway, you would agree that they 'believed' in Jesus, right? Just as scripture states, "you believe in God? Good. Even the demons believe in God, and shudder". So belief may not inspire the proper action. The demons, I guess, took action in the fact that they took a non-action. In other words, they chose to not put their faith in God.
Those of us that choose to put their faith in God are choosing to trust Him. If we trust Him, we are going to be "doers" of His word. And belief is surely welcome at this party. But we are going to be people of the right kind of action. We are going to say better words. We are going to think better thoughts. We are going to do better things. We are going to be more and more the kind of people that God says we can be, through the power of His spirit leading us. This faith thing seems to tie our other topics together well. Because of faith we can be men of prayer, men of courage, men of generosity. And it takes real faith to be these type of men. It requires the action. It calls for the right walk, not just the right talk. Men will show their faith by their actions. It makes sense, doesn't it?
It simply is not enough to believe. Here, in the Bible-belt, we are blessed with common knowledge and a plethora of churches. In a place where so many people 'believe' are you satisfied with our unity? our brotherhood? our community? our compassion? our morals? Just sayin...Jesus made it very clear that He is looking for the fruit of faith. In Luke 18, He asked, " when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the Earth?". Later, we read, "without faith, it is impossible to please God" and the lack of faith is likened to sin! Wow! Jesus commented on faith many times. Every time it was about response with action verbage.
We've just got to be people of action when it comes to faith. There will be daily grind, routine actions and there will be spontaneous, random circumstances. Both will require faith. It takes faith for a man to stand in strength and say "it's gonna be okay". It takes faith for a man to create time in his schedule to read the bible and pray. It takes faith for a man to be real and genuine in all of his circles. It takes faith to face uncertainty, persecution, and suffering. It takes faith to praise, complement, and worship. Yeah, I have faith. I have faith in this chair not to fold and break under my weight. But I'm talking about a real faith in God that inspires me to do the things He has designed for me to be "the man". Let's do this! Oh, and you didn't think I could make it through a whole exposition without mentioning 'love' did you? If you know me, you know I like to talk about love! So, I will only briefly mention love, another verb by the way, and that thing about "faith, hope, and love... but the greatest is...love". Faith is in good company with hope and love. May we all accept the invitation to join the party. It's Valen-times Day, come on!
