Over the course of a year and a half, I read the entire bible. This was one of the biggest victories of my life. For me, reading is something that brings great discomfort and something that I have struggled with ever since my youth. Though I was and am very proud of completing such a task, I know I have put myself in a challenging situation. As a Christian, I am called to love God through obedience of the word. By reading the whole bible, I have forfeited any excuse for not following biblical teachings. I read so I would know more about God and know how I should conduct myself being as one of his disciples. For many Christians, believing in God is a sufficient exercise of faith, but is this faith at all? Is it faith to just believe and not act on those convictions? What I propose is that the words faith and belief have been incorrectly interchanged for one another when in actuality; they are two different things that both are needed for true to devotion to God.
To believe something takes no effort at all. If I think that pressing the power button on the television will turn on the electronic, then that is belief. For me to actually take that belief and put into action by pressing the power button is faith. Though it only took a small amount of faith to press the button, Jesus did say,“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move” (Mat 17:20). Furthermore, in the book of James, a power piece of writing is summed up in one of the most recognizable five words in Christianity: “faith without works is dead.” To draw on the above example, to believe the power button with turn on the television, but never actually doing so is dead faith. I mean, what is the point of believing in something if one never acts on said belief?
Remember, faith is a natural reaction to a strong belief in something. Everyone has faith. Though faith has been strongly associated with metaphysical religion, everyone has faith in something. People go to work, voted for Obama, visit the doctor, and, yes, sit in chairs because they have faith in those things. What I want to do is challenge my Christian readers to consider this question. If a Christian believes that following Christ is the only way to heaven, then what will be the natural reaction? Will it be allowing a bible to gather dust? Will it be ignoring the pains of people both foreign and domestic? Will it be a complete refusal to ever talk to anyone, but your church friends about the awesomeness of Christ? These are question I still struggle with, but the challenge still remains. If I am going to call myself a Christian, how will I act out my faith?
Listen to the songs that inspired this blog below and help support those artist by purchasing their music at Amazon or Itunes.
"Faith that Works" by Json
"Walk by Faith" by Jeremy Camp
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