Faith faces choices

Think of the many people who have been born in Christian families, who have heard about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, and who think they have 'faith' and they are 'believers'. Many of them have not experienced the new birth, and according to Jesus, they will not enter heaven (Jn.3:3). But they believe that because what they believe is the truth, God will take them into heaven. For them, faith is the same as believing. The problem is that what they believe is just a collection of ideas in their mind. It has not touched their heart, and so they have not responded from their heart to the truth they have 'believed'. So, even if they are careful to do religious practices like going to church, reading the Bible and praying, their faith has not affected their core being which decides how they live.

When we hear about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, we make a choice to have Him as our Saviour. Automatically this also leads us to reject all other religious faiths because we have seen that no one but Jesus can save us. We choose to receive the forgiveness He offers us for our sins, and we choose the path of turning away from sin in our life. God forgives us our sins, adopts us as His children, and gives us the Holy Spirit to live in us and to help us to overcome sin.

After this we continue to experience temptation to sin (Jas.1:14,15;Ga.5:17). But now, by faith we choose to deny ourselves and do the will of God (Lk.9:23). If this battle is not going on in our life, it shows that our 'faith' is not real (Jas.2:26). Many Christians make a mistake here, saying that God is going to give them victory and that by themselves they are unable to gain salvation. But that is just the human part of the story, without remembering the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. The Spirit helps us to put our desires to death, but it is we who have to use that help and work out our salvation (Ro.8:13;Php.2:12,13). This is the mark of true faith.

Another area where true faith manifests itself is when we are tempted to be anxious about our future. There we have to make a choice either to lean on our own strength and get fearful, or to lean on God and stand in His strength. "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me" (Jn.14:1). "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" (Mt.6:26). Uncertainties about our future can certainly tempt us to be fearful. But that is when our faith gets its field-test. Merely memorising God's promises will not be enough then, but we have to actually choose in our mind to trust God even in the midst of that uncertainty. The three Hebrew men in front of the fiery furnace demonstrated their faith in God when they refused to be afraid in the face of death (Da.3:16-18).

If we see that our faith is lacking, the best thing to do is to admit it to God and ask for help.