Real Faith

Real Faith

Do you have real faith or just real religion?  Do you have real faith or just really go through the motions of christianity? Do you have real faith or is church and christianity just an option you choose when you don't have something better to do?  Only you can answer these questions, but Real Faith is life changing, it grows, develops, matures, and deepens.

Hebrews 11:1 gives us a biblical definition of faith  "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  Real Faith means that I am confident that the Hope I have in Jesus Christ is worth living and dying for and I am assured of my salvation and am going to live for Jesus even though I may not physically see Him.  Faith is bigger than just believing, scripture also teaches us that believing is not enough and even demons believe(James 2:19), of course we have to "believe" in order to have faith, but many just stop at believing.  I can believe lots of things and not let them change my life, character, lifestyle, choices, decisions, or bad habits.  

Belief is not enough, we must act upon what we believe about God and His Word and Salvation. Acting upon belief is Faith!  Real Faith is living every day trusting in God and His promises, His Spirit, His Salvation, and His Word.  It is allowing God to work in your life and make a real difference in your life.

When we have Real Faith we are going to have a positive attitude, we are going to trust God through the rough patches and tough times, and we are also going to be more selfless and care about others. We are going to have a desire to serve and give to God through His local church body and be an active part of the church. We are going to be faithful in attendance, service, worship, giving, and living!\

I am reminded of the picture of Jesus walking on the water and one of his followers Peter wanted to come out on the water with Him, so Jesus invited Him out and sure enough Peter got out of the boat and started walking toward Jesus on the water, but then something happened, Peter got distracted by his surroundings the wind, the water, etc..and he began to sink and Jesus had to reach out and catch him.  The point?  If we want to have real faith, we have to keep our eyes on Jesus, not be distracted by problems, greed, selfish desires, sins, etc...and we have to keep our focus on God and trust Him with our whole entire being, our hearts and our lives.  Do you truly trust God? Do you truly live for him? Do you have a real faith? Like the picture with this blog, I think we do a lot of talking, but we don't truly trust God, or live out and practice real faith.

Matthew 14:29b-31
"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”