How Is Faith Demonstrated?

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, we are given a list of people the writer thought exemplified living faith. He tells us who they were and gives a brief précis of events that, in his mind, demonstrated the faith being spoken of. When reading this list, we are confronted with two undeniable facts: first, nothing happened to these people until God made His will known to them and second, when they knew God’s will, they didn’t just sit on their hands and wait for God to unilaterally intervene in some miraculous fashion; they got off their duffs and acted. Let’s summarize what the writer says in chapter 11:

By faith:
• We understand God…3
• Able offered…4
• Enoch pleased …5
• Noah built and condemned…7
• Abraham obeyed and went…8
• …made his home…9
• …fathered Isaac…11
• …offered Isaac…17
• Isaac blessed…20
• Jacob blessed…21
• Joseph gave instructions…22
• Moses parents hid him…23
• Moses chose…25
• … left and persevered…27
• …kept and sprinkled…28
• The [Jewish] people…passed through…29
• The people marched…30
• Others conquered, administered, gained, shut, quenched and escaped, etc.…32-38

What do all these italicized words from Hebrews 11 have in common? They are all action verbs! While some of the qualities of faith are described in Hebrews in passive terms, most—as can be easily seen—are in fact active words. They describe an active living out of the Word of God, not a passive acquiescence to it.

This is instructional for us. Don’t misunderstand though: acting without knowing is just foolishness. We must know the will of God before we can act on it in obedience, but once we do know what God’s will is in any matter, we must act. We do not have the freedom to sit on our hands and do nothing. Obedience, like faith, requires action; even risk-taking at times (Abraham is perhaps our best example.)

However, often people say they don’t act because they don’t know the will of God, using this supposed ignorance as an excuse for complacency or fear. I remember reading a book on Bible study and in it the author said, in effect, “The problem [with Christians] is not that they don’t understand it [the Bible], but that they are unwilling to obey it.” More often than not, we know, or are perfectly able to discern, the will of God but we choose to remain in ignorance or to refuse to follow through with our understanding because we are either self-satisfied with our current position or fearful of what it might cost if we were actually to obey.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about other Christians. I’m talking about myself! I know perfectly well what God’s will is for me in almost any circumstance, but I don’t follow through. I like to think of myself as a disciple, but I know in my heart that this is nothing more than a sentimental affectation. I fail daily, not to understand God’s will for me, but to be obedient to it.

I wonder how many others there are just like me.

Soli Deo Gloria.