For most Christians faith means to believe in God, in the forgiveness of sins, and that they’ll go to heaven. But this is only the first part of faith. If we read in James 2, we see that faith means much more.
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:21-22,26.
It is one thing to say that you have faith, it is a completely different thing to show it. If faith without good works is dead, we need to be actively working so that “our faith can be made perfect”, so that we have a living faith. Each situation is an opportunity to work on ourselves, whether that means choosing to tell the truth when we are tempted to lie, or treating someone with kindness even when we feel that they don’t “deserve” it.
Working on ourselves simply means that when we are tempted, we say “No” to Satan and “Yes” to God and we do what God tells us to do. This is the second part of faith.
But how do we hold on to that faith in all the things we go through in life?
Focus on the things above
Maybe you have decided that Christianity is the life for you. You believe in God, you go to church, you want to be a good person. But as time goes on you realise that keeping God’s laws isn’t as easy as you thought it would be. In fact, doing what the Bible says doesn’t come naturally at all.
“Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth.” Colossians 3:2 (CJB).
As Christians, our hope is that we will one day be raptured and spend an eternity with Jesus. When we have decided that we want to be faithful to God, that goal must always be our first priority. Then we find eternal value in every situation. Then we see what we are fighting for when we are tempted to be unfaithful to God. Then we won’t be deceived to think that something else is more important or will bring us more joy than to do God’s will in each situation.
Why do people lose their faith, or this hope? It is because they stop focusing on their heavenly goal. Their focus has shifted to earthly things such as earthly goals, dreams, money, and so on. These things in themselves are not wrong. They are only wrong when they become more important than our heavenly calling. While they are seeking these earthly things, many people completely forget their heavenly goal. The result is that they no longer need God in their lives. Their minds are no longer focused on things above.
If we don’t consciously focus on that heavenly goal, it leaves an empty space that is quickly filled with all kinds of earthly things. But when we fill our thoughts with heavenly things, then a life with God becomes the most important thing to us, and the result is that we do whatever it takes to be faithful in every situation of life!
We need God
“But we live by faith, not by what we see.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (CEV).
God wants to bring us to a point in our lives where we cannot live without our faith in Him. In hard times when things aren’t going as we think they should, and in good times when everything seems to be going our way. As we go through life, it becomes more and more clear to us that we cannot reach our heavenly goal without help from God.
For some people, this becomes clear after they’ve tried many times to overcome sin in their own strength, and it didn’t succeed. For others, it takes a big life-changing situation to come to see it. Whatever the case, we each need to come to this – that no matter what happens, I need God in my life.
When we realise that our faith in God is the only thing that has any true worth, there is nothing and no one that could ever take it from us. We’ll meet each situation we come in with the power of God and we will become soldiers for Christ who fight hard to never give in to sin. We’ll be more and more freed from sin, and the result is that our faith becomes stronger and stronger.
“Let us hold firmly to the hope that we have confessed, because we can trust God to do what he promised.” Hebrews 10:23 (NCV).
