By: Sherry Pryor
Is believing enough? Faith is believing in the assurance of God’s Word and all He has done. Faithfulness is living in accordance with that truth. I have heard it said, “Faith will lead to faithfulness.”
Take an airplane as an example. We may know the pilot well, and we may know the plane’s flight history and believe that plane can fly us to our destination safely. Faithfulness to that truth would be that we bought a ticket and sat in a seat on the plane. Faithfulness is the action of faith.
The simplest act that God is asking all of us to do is to believe that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins on the Cross, was resurrected on the third day, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. In the past, I confessed that I believed, but that was where I stopped. I now understand in doing that, I cheapened what Christ has shown us in order to live in accordance to His Father’s will for our lives. Living intentionally in our actions to reflect the life that God has commanded will enable us to continue to spread the Good News of God’s truth.
“As the body without the Spirit is dead; so faith without deeds is dead.”
James 2:26 NKJ
So how can we say we believe and then not live inwardly and outwardly in that truth? Are we living all in? We cannot be just a little bit of a believer. We either are, or we are not. There is a Jewish wedding tradition where, after being pronounced husband and wife, the groom then kisses his bride, leans down, and lays a cloth over a glass. Using his right foot, he steps on the glass and shatters it. This symbolizes the absolute finality of the marital covenant. They believe the act of giving themselves to each other cannot be undone. Though they understand in marriage there will be sorrow and joy, they have committed to stand by each no matter what. In doing so, they are believing in and being faithful to their truth.
This should be the same way we feel when we take that leap of faith in believing all of what God has said and all of what He has done for us. Like the breaking of the glass, once we believe and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, it cannot be undone – except if we choose to stop there. We must learn to abide in Christ through the Helper he sent us, Holy Spirit. We can no longer remain idle in our beliefs. To believe is to act. When we see and experience in our day-to-day lives how God is present in our times of sorrow and joy, we must share this with others. God’s goodness is to be exalted to all who come near.
“But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
John 3:21 NKJV
I would ask that we take heed to meditate on this beautiful message. A few questions I have learned that help to break down a verse or passage are: What does it say?, What does it mean?, and What is my obedience to what I just read?
“he who does the truth” – Not just believes in the truth, but carries out the truth. That is faithfulness – living and acting in accordance to God’s Word, the truth.
“that his deeds may be clearly seen” – Wow! Yes, that we are outwardly being like Jesus – helping those in need, loving the undeserving, giving what we have and then giving more.
“that they have been done in God”– The last part of that passage can be treacherous, and we would do well to be cautious not to lose our way on our path of being faithful. We must ensure all of our deeds in faithfulness are grounded in, for, and with God and not for our own gain.
Believers who believe, I rejoice with you in Jesus’ name. But even more so, I pray for all of us believers that while we are believing, we are also inwardly and outwardly reflecting faithfulness.
