Am I committed?

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:1-3 (NLT)

Many of us have proclaimed our delight in these verses, and considered the mighty faith of those who appear in the remainder of the chapter. We marvel at their deeds and wonder if we could possess the same faith. Is it possible one reason we as believers have such a hard time living like those heroes of the faith because we don’t fully embrace Christ? Do we stop short of seeking out the life God has called us to live because we don’t place our full faith in Him and trust Him with our very lives?

It’s confusing and half-hearted that so many believers today place their faith in Christ for salvation from the consequences of their sin, and possess the hope that He will take them to Heaven, yet are unwilling to fully commit to His purposes over their own. Many don’t demonstrate the reality that all we are is in Him, through Him, and about Him. Frankly, our lives are meaningless unless spent for Christ.

James, the brother of Jesus, had much to say about faith as we live it.

“You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” James 2:19-22,24,26 (NLT)

Applying James’ words to our casual Christian lifestyle today means simply this: It’s just not enough to be saved! If we say we are Christians, but don’t live out Christ by our actions, then we don’t exhibit the character and behavior of a true Christian. We can look at many more examples of this, but the Lord plainly said that we would be known by our fruit.

So we must ask ourselves, “Are we committed?” “Do we live out Christ and our faith in front of our family, friends, and co-workers?” -or just our Sunday School teachers and church friends? Do the unsaved and unchurched in our communities see us as a representative of the living Christ?

Our faith in Christ is backed up by our committed and purposeful action for Christ.