Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
John 12:42-43
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?...You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
James 2:14, 19
We can get really comfortable with our mental beliefs about God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible. We can say 'Amen' to the next Scripture tweeted into the world wide web, or 'like and share' the next cute faith-based post we see on Facebook. We can agree with the preachers and teachers of our Sunday morning services, or our favorite webcasts and podcasts. But we may not always be walking in a faith that satisfies God's demands about belief in Himself. Every now and then we need to take a deep look at these verses and then examine ourselves to see if we are (still) really "in the faith" (see 2 Corinthians 13:5). Do we really believe what we think we believe? Does our faith in God lead to a significant change in the way we live our life? Does our belief in God ever cost us any actual change? Because true faith would.
True faith would set us on a path of internal transformation, external action, and require us to surrender our will for God's will at every point of the journey. God requires us to have a faith that follows Him. It's not always easy, but it's both the doorway and the highway to knowing God more and more, and to entering into His promises. There's believing...and then there's believing. Are you all in?
