#1c Faith - The Foundation - Faith vrs. Belief
May 2nd, 2008 by Brian
There are two different types of beliefs. One type is just head knowledge. This head knowledge doesn’t exactly change what we do. It is this definition of belief that I challenge whether a person has. More on this later.
The second type of belief are those things that we have head knowledge of but also changes our course of action. For example, if you though (head knowledge) that your house was burning down, your belief would force you to take action. You really believe that a house on fire is dangerous. A person who doesn’t change their action really doesn’t believe that a burning house is dangerous. Even though he says that a burning house is dangerous but doesn’t act on it actually does not believe that it is.
There are many Christians who believe in God (head knowledge) but have not changed their course of action. This amazed me in my own life. I am the king of hypocrisies.
All this came to me as I was watching a TV show that was filled with foul language. “I’m mature for it. It’s not like I’ll be repeating these words” I tried to justify it. But the Holy Spirit then asked me, “Would you be watching these shows if Jesus Himself was sitting on the couch next to you?” You see, I had head belief that God is omnipresent but I didn’t have faith that God was omnipresent. This is what I believe Paul means to “lose the faith.” James chapter 2 goes into comparing the difference between the head belief and Faith.
Our faith in God must change us. “Let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting Him.” Heb. 10:22
Well for some reason I skipped over this to read the next and this caught my eye just like me to put the carriage before the horse.
This is a good topic as I have folks that will send me Godly emails,talk about the Lord and about believing but will spill out words like a sailor and dress like a harlot!! I know to judge is to be judged and goodness gracious don’t look in my closet, but these folks have NO Fruits to follow their talk. So I can see the difference in head knowledge and Faith here. I also have known people that served as bible study teachers and served the Lord in church but said that they came to the realization that they weren’t saved. They knew lots of verses by memory(head knowledge) but their heart was empty.
I agree with you Brian. I was at the point you were talking about just a year ago. Of course I was saved and lived right and blah, blah, blah BUT I was doing exactly what you said - watching the TV shows that weren’t right! Seriously, I love reality shows, but some of them (The Real World, etc.) were not exactly “godly” material. Not until I had a true conviction and really started doing God’s work, did I realize that I can’t do “just anything”. What really opened my eyes was an unsaved friend I was trying to witness to. I was saying all the facts (head knowledge you were talking about) and I actually belived and lived about 90% of them BUT it wasn’t 100%. Anyway - that unsaved friend was coming over for dinner and I had a reality show on TV that wasn’t exactly “witnessing material”! Right before that doorbell rang it’s like God convicted me and said - hey, are in you in this 100% or not? From then on, I realized I have to be “in it 100%” all the time - no matter if someone is coming over for dinner or it’s me by myself. I had (and continue to) ask God to really convict me of my behind-the-scenes sin that I commit and let me tell you - he’s got that down. So now, I don’t spend time watching The Real World or other reality shows and amazingly, I am not bored. It’s like God filled that time with something else. You know, it goes beyond the reality shows for me as well - my private thoughts when my husband leaves the WET towel on the bathroom floor, the way I drive (yeah, those speed limit signs are there for a reason) and the way I spend my morning quiet time. All of those areas are behind-the-scenes that usually most people don’t see us doing but GOD does.
I have also learned a valuable lesson on trusting God to do His will in the past year. We had something just awful happen within our family and I just knew God was going to make it all right. Ok….waiting….c’mon God….do your thing….NOW!!!!! Well, I was wrong, and it took my prayer partner to point that out to me. I asked God to put me in the CENTER of His will and I finally accepted that whatever happened, however it happened, EVERYTHING was going to be okay. Why? - B/C God had it all under control. But it took me actually breaking down, crying, pleading with God to just take care of my family and Him finally picking me up and showing me that all is well! It’s really hard to give that 100% control and trust to God, but when you do - everything is taken care of and although we were going through a horrible thing, the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. Someone who doesn’t fully trust, believe, have faith in God will still carry the weight around on their shoulders even though they SAY “oh, God’s in control and I’m ok”. But those who soley trust in Him, truley, 100%, will not carry that weight. Ok, I think I have raddled on enough here.
Take it from a Sailor, I know what u all mean. I’ve lived a very ruff and hard life for years and years. Since I’ve returned to Christ, I’ve had no
desire to use the language I considered normal for the most part of my life. I also agree, would I be watching a show if Jesus was setting next to me and in a lot of ways he is, but his name is Miranda and Christina and if they can’t watch it, Amy and I don’t watch it.
That’s my story and I’m stickin to it!
Yeah I have to remind myself all the time to Let Go and Let God!!! I remember one of the first things I quit doing when Wayne and myself came back to the Lord was to stop listening to country music. I listen to nothing but Christian music all the time. I heard some country the other day on Tv and I thought How depressing!!! Thank God He changed my life!