Scripture for Study and Encouragement: James 2:14-26

Faith in Christ is not just about knowing the truths of the gospel,
but about living them as well.

It is vital to know that faith is not just an action of your brain; it’s an investment of your life. Faith is not just something you think; it’s something you live. Hear these words from Hebrews 11:1-7:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

What is faith? Verse 6 is very helpful. Biblical faith has this foundation—you must believe that God exists. This is the watershed, the great divide. There are only two types of people in this world—those who believe that the most important fact that a human being could ever consider and give assent to is the existence of God, and those who either casually or philosophically deny his existence. But intellectual commitment to God’s existence is not all that faith is about; faith means you live as though you believe in God’s existence, or as though you believe, as the writer says, “he rewards those who seek him.”

Faith is a deep-seated belief in the existence of God that radically alters the way you live your life. Now, here’s the rub. Faith isn’t natural for us. Biblical faith is counterintuitive and countercultural. So we even need God’s grace to have faith to believe in the existence of the one whose grace we so desperately need. And the grace is yours for the asking again today.

Adapted and modified excerpts from Paul David Tripp, 40 Days of Faith
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.