Genuine Faith: Hearing and Doing

               Last Sunday , i was really blessed. Aside from the fact that our organization was successful in selling donuts as part of the fund-raising project this semester, I was able to start a new series entitled Genuine: Is your faith real. The first topic, Hearing and Doing, was delivered by Pastor Edgar and the urge to share this with you made me post this in my blog. I hope you’ll be blessed!

     Technology has brought about so many inventions and innovations when it comes to commoditites and gadgets. Because of the great demand for these stuff , investors and dealers hover in the market arena and in turn causing a skyrocketing charge for each piece. Due to the ubiquitous use of these things, people try to get hold of a sample that sometimes, they even end up buying an imitation or simply put, a fake. There’s nothing wrong in buying these contraband regardless of the decrease in the profit of these investors and multinational companies but as long as they do not cause harm, people yield into the propaganda- the lure of getting what’s ‘In’. It is true, fake items do not bring harm or if they do, they cause just a little but it is also important to note that there are fake things which can be lethal, like one’s FAITH.

                Our faith has always been crucial and susceptible to injury. That is why we should always  see to it that the faith we are clinging to is real. In James 1:21-25, he differentiated two kinds of people, the one with a genuine faith and the one with a fake.

 

21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

-James 1:21-25

                  With what is written in the scriptures, one might ask, what is faith really? If there’s an equation that could answer this question, it would simply be FAITH= SALVATION + GOOD WORKS and definitely not FAITH+ GOODWORKS= SALVATION which other religions based their teachings on. Salvation is through faith alone that is why a lot of verses in the bible teaches one how to build this faith and how to know if the one that you have is real.

                   One can actually differentiate a genuine faith from a fake by looking into one’s attitude towards the Word. In verse 22, James used the word DECEIVE to describe a person who hears the word and yet doesn’t do anything about it. A person with a fake faith is DECEIVED. And the worst kind of deception? Self-deception. It is when a person tries to create an illusion ,a fantasy, of his own version of the world to satisfy himself. It is like playing chess with a bit of pestilence and in the end getting the purse. You get so overwhelmed and happy even if you know that you played against nobody but yourself. Fake faith brings about deception while Genuine faith bring about humility. A genuine believer humbly accepts the word and then obeys (v.24)

                 The question of obedience now comes into a clearer picture. Why do people choose to listen and end it that way rather than listen and then do something about it? Why don’t they obey? There are two reasons behind. First, a person who reads the word and gets the gist  doesn’t act on it simply because he thinks what he reads applies to someone else. Sometimes people and even believers for this matter tend to look at the scriptures to get wisdom in order to help someone out with his or her emotional and spiritual struggle. They focus on interpreting the scriptures in such a way that it would fit into their friend’s concerns. But the truth is, the scriptures are for every being and it will fit every person’s undertakings if only one chooses to digest them. The problem with this ‘help-him-with-this-word’ mentality is that the sharer or the believer in this case may tend to overlook some spiritual facts , skip and gloss over the pages of the bible, chooses the verses which would ‘fit’ into his situation until he ends up with nothing but the table of contents or perhaps the end notes.  Second, the truth which is found in the bible is hard to do. Mark Twain once said “It isn’t the parts of the bible that I can’t understand that bothers me, It’s the parts that i do understand.” To add, G.K. Chesterton also had this thought “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried.”

                ‘The truth hurts’ as the cliche goes;nevertheless, it is proven real. It is really hard to obey when it hurts. It’s hard to do  what God commands us to do if it requires pain and sacrifice. This is the reason why there are partial-believers and perhaps partial-obedience. Some christians tend to hold back because of fear or if not, because they do not want to experience pain. And so at th e end of the day, they choose to obey the easy ones, the ones which would not bother them or perhaps beat them a little.

                Another parameter in differentiating genuine faith from the fake is through the symbolism of a mirror. James compared someone with a fake faith as someone who looks at the mirror and then completely forgets what he looks like.(v. 24) This mirror is God’s word. It is this extraordinary and supernatural mirror which enables a person to see not only his physical characteristics but aslo reveals his soul, his core being, his deepest darkest secrets and blemishes and the things he would not ever wanted to see. This mirror shows what a person can become. The bible reveals what a person can do for God’s kingdom.

                 The one with fake faith denies what he sees in the mirror. The consequence of this attitude is the great probability of rejecting the whole word of God. When one doesn’t apply God’s word, (what he sees in the mirror) his tendency is to feel distant and God distant also. He will start to believe that everything is only a theory. He becomes philosophical with things ,becomes skeptic or perhaps cynical about the truth that he’ll end up denying God’s existence and equating Him to a mere idea which exists only in the human intellect. On the contrary a person with genuine faith LOOKS INTENTLY into the word. The operational word here is INTENTLY, with intent. He looks at the mirror intently. By intently means something with a plan and a priority. It means having the intention of doing what he sees, what he understands , what the Bible reveals him to do. This would also mean a great thirst for more of God’s revelations in his life. God won’t reveal Himself to casual inquirers, He wants someone to look for him by heart. The consequence of doing this? We will be closer to Him.The more we read intently, the more we are changed.  And at the end of the day, we will be blessed. (v. 25)

                Bottom line is, with genuine faith, there is obedience. And When we keep doing it, when we keep looking at the mirror and act on it, the more we will be blessed. God’s blessing comes by looking with the intent of doing God’s word.