FAITH: BEYOND BELIEVING

Thou BELIEVEST that there is one God; thou doest well: the DEVILS ALSO BELIEVE, and tremble – James 2:19

FAITH involves BELIEVING, but it matters WHAT or WHO you believe. We are what we believe. We become what we believe. Faith does not believe mere fiction or fantasy. Faith does not “believe a lie.” It does not believe what is known to be false. Faith does not believe something for which there is no Word-based evidence. All of these would be FOOLISHNESS not FAITH! Faith doesn’t just “believe” with nothing specific in mind. Faith believes UNTO something and FOR something. Indeed, faith goes BEYOND BELIEVING!

The ability to believe is “in-built” in the average human being. In a sense, we were all born “believers”! The baby believes in a Mother he or she has barely known. Children are perhaps the best “believers.” You throw up your baby and he or she has no fear of falling, trusting the parent’s outstretched arms. Newly-weds also depict what it means to believe. With partial knowledge, an imperfect couple commit to each other for life, for better or worse! Everyone believes in something or someone – a spouse, barber or hairdresser, doctor, lawyer, financial adviser, boss or bank. Without any guarantees, we put our lives into the hands of surgeons, our minds under the influence of counsellors, psychologists, professors or pastors, and trust drivers of cars and pilots of planes.

There are million-and-one possible things to believe. That’s why we need to watch what or who we do believe. Many people believe in some sort of ‘god’, somewhere. The question is what sort? It may be, at best, a fabrication of their imagination. James 2:19 confirms that the devils also BELIEVE that there is one God, and they tremble! There is a difference between believing that there is God (His existence), and believing IN God! Believing that ‘GOD IS’ is a step away from believing that He is a REWARDER of those that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). Faith isn’t just believing on the WORD of GOD, but believing in the GOD of the WORD.

Ultimately, the believing that matters is BELIEVING IN the GOD of the Bible. The evidence of such would be in your confessions and actions. Do you speak and act according to what or who you believe? If you believe in a seed, you plant it. If you believe God, you demonstrate it by corresponding action. Your faith must not be passive. It must be living, vocal, active and dynamic. Faith which doesn’t speak and work isn’t faith at all.