Faith In Action | Northstar Church

“Faith in action is love, and love in action is service. By transforming that faith into living acts of love, we put ourselves in contact with God Himself, with Jesus our Lord.” – Mother Teresa

Walking by faith and not by sight is a scary proposition sometimes, especially when my exceptions for the end result are different than God’s. Walking by faith means that we bring ourselves into alignment with God, not the other way around. We need faith as we run our race in our pursuit of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

We must hold strong to our faith because it is the very thing that leads us towards the things we hope for. It’s the thing that keeps us moving forward, even if that movement seems in the wrong direction. Why? Because, “just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” (James 2:26). A better word for “dead” in the verse above might be “dormant,” “unproductive,” or “inoperative.” Actions are needed to bring faith to life because faith is designed to always spur us on to obedience in Christ and to be more like Him.

Scriptures tell us that it’s impossible for us to please God without faith. Faith does not only mean belief: faith means action. Faith means we do whatever we can to love. To share. To be generous. And to point people to Jesus. We are a people who take action. A people who believe that our tiny little action of giving a sandwich to the hungry, a dollar to a homeless person, or a coat to the freezing is a byproduct of our faith in Christ.

Remember the paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof in Luke 5. The man’s friends could have taken the posture that our friend will somehow find his way to Jesus. But their action said I will get my friend to Jesus. If the man’s friends weren’t living out their faith, this unfortunate man would have still been laying on his mat unable to walk. Our actions in faith may seem small. But our God is big. And He asks each of us to act on what we believe, trusting that He will do more than we could imagine.

We will all have those moments in our lives when we are asked to step out in faith. And we all have concerns about that first step because getting out of our comfort zone can produce stress and worry. Our initial inclination is to question whether we are ready to put ourselves out there. On the other hand, you are excited about what God wants to do through you and and you can’t wait to see what that is, but…you don’t have it all worked, figured or factored out. That is where faith comes in. God responds to our action, not our concerns. So step out even if you have that unsettling combination of wanting to step out in faith but not feeling completely prepared. God didn’t ask you to get ready to go; He just asked you to go. You can get ready along the way.

Discussion Questions:

What are the barriers to doing something every day that requires faith?
What can we do this week to overcome those barriers?