If the Word is the diet part of our walk with God, faith is the exercise. Faith is not only something we “have,” it’s especially something we do. Saying we “have” faith is like saying we “have” exercise. It just doesn’t make sense. James asked, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14). Our faith is something that is lived, not something that is sought. Saying, “I just need more faith” is like saying “I just need more exercise.”
It is assumed in the Bible that our faith is something done, not something that is received. By faith all the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 obeyed. They went. The followed. They led. The helped. They ministered. There were the actions that resulted in living out their faith. If we are truly people of the faith, we are active every day. There’s not a day that passes where we are not actively living by faith. We must be calling people, visiting with the sick, sharing our time and money with the poor, and helping the orphans and widows in their distress.
The phrase “going to church” is about as helpful as “going to the gym” if all we do is sit and watch others work out. Our faith is the exercise portion of our daily regiment. James was right when he said, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26).
Photo by Alexander Redl on Unsplash