Belief is foundational. Belief is personal. Belief is essential.
A few years ago I overheard a young woman at church say, "I'm not sure that I believe what I believe." An interesting statement that I translated as, 'I know what my church teaches. I know what my parents believe, but I'm having doubts.'
She knew what her parents believed, and she had been raised in church, but belief is not passed on genetically, like brown eyes or cowlicks. Belief is born within the individual through hearing and faith.
Once we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are 'born again' - born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit - but even so, there will be moments when doubts or discouragement crowd in. And in those moments, the solution is to immerse ourselves in God's Word, rehearing the myriad stories of the Bible which affirm the amazing testimonies of God's interaction with man; reviewing the prophecies foretelling the coming of the Messiah, and the evidence that Jesus is precisely who He claimed to be; reminding ourselves of people whose lives have been amazingly changed because of their encounters with Jesus. Faith comes by hearing!
Faith also has to be acted upon. Faith means going beyond belief and living in obedience to God in response to the Holy Spirit's leading. That's what Jesus' younger brother James tells us in James 2:14-20:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Our response to God's love is to love God and love others. Love is an action verb. We become "see a need, fill a need" people. We aren't all called to the same tasks, and the works we do don't save us, but they do reflect Jesus' love to and for others. We find the fulfillment of our faith in doing good, and we are admonished not to grow weary in that pursuit.
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
2 Thessalonians 3:13
As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.
Basic Christianity involves doing good - even to/for those who are hateful and unkind to us. We may not always feel the warm-fuzzy love of warm affection toward everyone, but our actions have to portray the faith we profess. Jesus made that clear in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:43-48
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
It clearly means doing the right thing even when someone doesn't deserve it - which is just another reminder of the grace we receive from a loving God who has not punished us with what we actually deserve....
Sin deserves punishment. We have all sinned. But He came and took the blame, bore our sin, forgave us for what our sin caused Him to go through, and now He intercedes for us.... What an amazing, wonderful God!
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