Faith In Action | Northstar Church

“We gotta do much more than believe if wanna see the world change

We gotta do much more than believe if we really wanna change things

We gotta do much more than believe, go on try it, go on try it

We gotta do much more than believe if we wanna see the world change”

― Dave Matthews Band

One of the challenges for the Christian is how to balance trusting God with getting off the couch and using our own efforts to make things happen. There is a spectrum of possible responses. At one extreme there’s the option of trusting in God to the exclusion of action; “I’m waiting for God to direct me as to my next move” or “I can’t do this without God, so I really need to pray about this some more.” The other extreme is based on the “God helps those who help themselves” view. This path would involve me taking action on things that I am passionate about and good at, and think of how I could use them to further the kingdom. Obviously I should still trust in God, but I could say that I’m trusting in the sense that I have faith that God will bless my efforts.

While waiting for God is often the right thing to do, if we are not careful it will become our default position and can lead to a life of passivity: a lack of action, little motivation, and zero responsibility. It is easy to expect God to live for us rather than to work through us. Waiting on God can keep us stuck and prevent us from moving in the direction that God wants us to go.

Over the years I have heard people say “God will give me a sign…God will close the doors if it’s not meant to be…God will bring him/her into my life…God will take away my desires…” Absolutely He can and He does. But we need to ask ourselves a question: Does God act on our behalf, or does God gives us the strength and power to act on His behalf? God does ask us to trust Him with the things we cannot control, but He also asks us to take action in the things that we can. He asks us to know Him, to love Him, and to honor Him…and then to live confidently in return.

We are called to take action, to make decisions, to live our lives in a way that we glorify God and to be the people He wants us to be. Our connection with God is a two-way street, the good news or bad news depending on your viewpoint is that we have a role in this relationship. We have a choice. We have a will. So we can either say yes or no. We can stop, or we can go. We can stay the same, or we can grow. Live in the old or awake to the new.

It’s important to have faith in God. It is important to give him our worries and our fears and to trust Him with tomorrow, but it’s just as important to allow Him to work in us and through us today.

Discussion Questions:

How do you balance waiting on God with taking action?
In 2020, do you need to get better on waiting on God, or taking action?