Faith Isn't An Action, It Creates An Action

You see it all the time. Folks boasting about what they do by, or for, their faith.

There are many religions and christian denominations wholly based on works rather than faith. They even boast about how they are putting faith first. You can tell because the preacher's of that "faith" focus so much on what their "believers" must do.

"You must pray more."

"You should never miss church."

"You can't be gay anymore."

"You need to pray every morning."

"You need to stop drinking, smoking, cheating, stealing, etc..."

Though stopping all of these actions is rather good, it is not necessary to be saved, and accepted, by God, through the work of Jesus Christ.

Salvation, comes by grace, through faith, not by anything else. If you believe that you have to do anything to be saved, and/or believe you must do something to keep it...well, you don't have saving faith at all.

James 2:14

14. What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

Faith in works, or what you do, won't save you. Neither will faith that produces no works!

"I'm confused!"

Faith is believing, or trusting something or someone. Faith or trust in Jesus Christ IS, according to scripture, the only way anyone is saved and accepted. It is a gift given by God the Father through His Holy Spirit. Rejecting that Spirit, is rejecting the whole package.

You can't accept part of it, by adding certain tasks to it. "To fully be accepted by God, I must do penance, because Jesus's work was not enough!" That is not faith in Jesus.

"Believing" in Jesus, but not what what He said about walking for Him, also is not faith.

If you believe your house is about to explode, even if you have no evidence, you WILL exit that house. Your action, the exit, WILL happen, whether it is true or not, because you believe it! It works that way for anything.

When you finally believe your action of smoking will kill you painfully, you WILL stop. Faith, naturally drives action.

I have seen people kill themselves with food. Though they were told that the way they are eating was going to kill them, they would not stop because they really didn't believe it.

How many have you seen turn their lives around after facing a near death event?

Yes, faith drives action naturally. Saving faith is no different. When you come to Jesus and really believe that you are saved by His work, your life changes. Most really feel it. Something is different. Something wonderful happened. They just KNOW it. That is Faith, given by God, because of His Grace.

Because you just KNOW the Christian message is true, and all of it is real, what Jesus says now has the weight of truth behind it.

Because you believe that seeking God in prayer has immense value, because Jesus said so, you WILL pray. You won't do it because you have to, or were told to by some preacher, you will just do it because you KNOW Jesus said it, so it must be true. You just trust HIM.

So the powerful truth here, is that all sin, or bad behavior (the things God tells us plainly are not good for us), can easily be overcome if we just get to know Jesus better. Yes, ALL sin is done because of a lack of faith, in Him.

In order to fix bad behavior in ourselves we simply need to get to know God better. That's it.

Seek First.

As we get to know God through prayer, scripture, and Fellowship, we will see and understand Him more. Knowing Jesus better, will increase the measure of faith, the Father gave us when we got saved. Ah, but these actions do not save us at all, no, they WILL happen because of the measure of that given faith.

Yes, I know, it's complicated.

Just know this. Faith in Jesus saves. Knowing Jesus more will increase faith, because Jesus IS trustworthy!

Additionally, He can easily be known.

"God doesn't talk to people anymore".

Yeah, that is a lie.

It is written God does not change. No, He doesn't.

Jesus died, but in fact did rise from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Father. He is not sleeping, or on vacation. He IS here, right now as you read this.

Wanna know Him better? Want your faith to grow?

Ask Him yourself. He is God. If He wants you to hear Him, there is nothing you can do to stop Him...even in your ignorance.

When He does talk to you, and He tells you about Himself, and what He thinks of you...well, there is nothing you can do to stop that faith from growing.

Nothing, because that work, that effort, is His, and His alone.