You Cannot Have Faith Without Being Faithful

You Cannot Have Faith Without Being Faithful

 

Faith is a great word.

The word teaches us so much.

But I sometimes think we use

it so often it loses its meaning.

So what does faith mean?

How has faith affected your life?

I am not talking about scripture quoting.

I am asking you to put faith into your own words.

If the scripture says we “walk by faith”…

What do your steps look like?

Hebrews 11 summarizes the steps great

people who walked and lived by faith.

If we were to add your name to the

list in Hebrews 11 what would we say?

The next question is what is the motivation of your faith?

I Corinthians 13 tells us that when all the spiritual

works are done and Christ appears, three things remain.

“Faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.”

Paul tells us spiritual gifts without love do not justify us.

In his letter to the Galatians he says we are not

justified by the law but “faith working through love”.

  

So how does faith work?

 The Scripture says… 

"Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

And he was called the friend of God.

In the same breath James says…

 “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”

Abraham’s faith came out of a love, a friendship with God.

Abraham’s faith and love for God affected everything he did.

But that did not mean everything he did was right.

Because Abraham’s motivation was faith

working through love, God had favor on him.

 

Favor that is grace.

This is why it says…

 “By grace we are saved.”

  In Galatians 5 there is a warning for those who

“become estranged from Christ” and “have fallen from grace”.

But the scriptures says…

 Those whose “faith (is) working through love”.

“For we through the Spirit eagerly wait

for the hope of righteousness by faith.”

Faith through love is a process.

We do have hope that our “faith working through love”

will help us “live right”, to “do the right” things,

to become perfect in all our ways.

Even though Abraham had failures,

 God’s grace was on him.

  

"Abraham believed God, and it was

accounted to him for righteousness."

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

Galatians 5:4-6 NKJV

4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.

James 2:23-24 NKJV

And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.