Learning to live life as Christ lived is learning to live life like it was created and designed to be lived. To be successful at this, it helps to look at our world, the world that God created like Christ saw it.
Combining Faith With Obedience
Why is this important? In Combining Faith with Obedience Session One, we started to develop this idea that what we believe fuels our action. It’s important to understand how action and our beliefs play off one another.
Solid Ground
Let’s go with an example: I’ll use walking. It’s something we all do. I need to get from point A to point B and it requires walking. I’m walking on a sidewalk and I believe that sidewalk can carry my weight. I’m not concerned that it’s suddenly going to crack open and I’m going to fall to my death 200 feet below. So, I walk with confidence. I follow the instructions for getting from point A to point B with no problem.
Shaky Ground
Now for a contrast. I’ll share an encounter I had a few weeks ago while hiking in the mountains. Again, we’re walking, and the trail leads us up to a bridge. A wooden bridge, not very wide and no guard rails. I’ve eaten a lot over winter and I’ve gained a couple of extra pounds. I’m not sure I believe this bridge can hold my weight. Underneath me is probably 100 ft of open space and then a creek with a bunch of sharp rocks. The thoughts going through my head about this bridge are impacting my ability to walk across it.
Now, you guys are probably a bunch of thrill seekers and would have no problem crossing that bridge but I was stuck there just looking at it for at least several minutes. Then suddenly a group of 20-year-olds came behind me and almost skipped across the bridge, laughing and talking like they haven’t a care in the world. I asked them, “Wow! Aren’t you scared?” They responded, “No this is one of our favorite trails. We hike it all the time. Don’t worry the bridge can hold you. It’s sturdy.” Do you see the picture, the connection?
Belief Fuels Action
What a person believes about the ground they walk on, impacts their walk. I saw the bridge as unsafe. They saw it perfectly safe. We were both looking at the same bridge. It’s not the situation. It’s what a person believes or perceives that fuels their walk. Same goes for our discipleship to Christ and our walk with God. What we believe about Him and His creation, His world, impacts how we live in it. That’s why it’s important to see God how Christ saw God. Faith fuels action.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[a]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[b]and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. James 2:20-24
