by Curtis Hahn

Created on: May 16, 2008

I once asked my kids if they could tell me the difference between belief and faith. As many people do, they thought there was no difference; they felt that having faith simply meant you believed in something. As part of my illustration, I asked my son if he had enough faith to take the empty glass, sitting on the coffee table, to the kitchen and place it in the dishwasher. Keeping his seat on the couch, his reply was a confident "yes". I then asked him if he was sure; if he truly understood all the biological mechanics involved with getting up off the couch, grasping the glass in his hand and walking over to the kitchen. After a few more moments of questioning his "faith", he finally said, "Here, let me show you!" I emphatically informed him, "That's faith!"

After he recouped from his "deer in the headlights" reaction to my enthusiasm, he sat back down and I went on to explain the difference between believing in something and having faith in something. When my son said he had faith he could take the glass to the kitchen, he was actually only stating he believed he could complete the task. It was not until he got up to execute the task that his faith was made complete. He could have sat on the couch all day long, believing, but belief doesn't get the job done - faith does.

People will often make reference to the Christian faith, the Hindu faith, the Mormon faith, and so on; they refer to faith as if it was a noun something they posses. Faith can be used as an adjective to describe who they follow: Christians follow Christ, Hindus follow Mohammad, and Mormons follow Joseph Smith; but it is through that act of following that best defines faith as a verb.

James 2:26 tells us, "Faith without works is dead..." In other words, faith equals belief plus works; and conversely, faith minus works leaves you with only belief. Previously in verse 19 James says, "You believe that there is one God; thou doest well; the demons also believe and tremble." Ephesians 2:8 tells us we are saved by grace, through faithnot belief. Romans 10:9 supports Ephesians 2:8 nicely: "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Notice the two steps involved - believing, and confessing. Without the "work" of confessing, there is no faith only belief. If we put our faith in Christ, that means we not only believe (as the demons do) but we also actively follow his teachings, getting up off the couch to complete the task he has asked us to do.

So does this mean we have to constantly prove our belief in God through our works? No more than we have to prove our belief in oxygen - we just simply inhale and exhale. We don't need to carry out righteous deeds to prove anything - it's just who we are. The definition of faith can be discussed, debated and dissected, but when it comes right down to it, faith can best be defined as a gift from God.

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