title: How Are We Responsible For Our Faith date: 2025-02-15 description: draft: false tags: [] aliases: cssclasses:
How Are We Responsible For Our Faith?
In this, the fourth article in the series on answering What is faith?, we will try to understand how we are responsible for the faith that God has gifted to us.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:8-10
God gives us faith as a gift. When the Bible says that faith is not a result of works, it means that faith is not something we can accomplish on our own. It’s something that He gives to us because we are His creation and He designed us to have faith in Him. But then it immediately says that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. So, we are not given faith as a result of our works, but we are expected to do good works with our faith. That means that faith is a gift, but it comes with responsibilities.
This is an important topic because there seems to be some confusion around whether works are a valid part of faith or not. For example, in Romans 3:28 Paul says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” And people argue from that statement saying that all we need to do is confess belief in Jesus and all of our sins will be forgiven, and then they go on sinning. But James says, in James 2:26, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” And people argue from that statement saying that we must earn our faith by being good people and doing good deeds, and they get puffed up by how good they think they are compared to others. But Ephesians 2:8-10 brings both of those sentiments together to say that we are not given faith because of our works, but so that we can do the work that God has prepared for us to do. So, we are not given faith for our own sake, but for God’s sake. To put it another way, faith is not given to us so that we can pursue our own glory, but so that we can glorify God with it.
So what does it mean to be responsible with your faith? What are the works that God has prepared for us to do? Well, I think the best place to start answering that question is with the greatest commandment.
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” - Mark 12:29-31
God certainly gave us each special talents and abilities, and He also directs our steps as to what paths we each follow through life, but He is not limiting our works to just the things we can do with our hands and minds in this world. He wants us to love and worship Him. There’s a catch to that, though. We are sinful people, and our hearts are often at odds with God when it comes to our day to day desires and actions. That means that we - together with the Holy Spirit - have some preparation to do before we can even get to the work of loving God and each other, and that work is the work of transformation.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:2
So, we are not to be conformed to this world. That means we are not to put priority on earthly desires and ambitions. That doesn’t mean that we should completely neglect our responsibilities such as providing for our families and paying our bills, but it means that we should pursue knowing God instead of wanting more stuff, or chasing after higher status, etc… And how do we become transformed by renewing our minds? Well, we certainly start with praying and studying the Bible. We can take what we learn from the Bible, combined with the power that we get from prayer, and start serving those around us. And the more we do that the more transformed we will become and the more we will fulfill the greatest commandment to love God and each other.
Think about it. The Bible never tells us that we must build great things, or accomplish great things. It might tell us that we can do these things, but it never tells us that we are required to. It does tell us, however, that we must love God and love each other, and that we must believe in Jesus. No matter what your state of affairs is - what your possessions, or status are - you are always equipped to do what God requires of you. Everything else is often more of a distraction than an aid to you doing God’s will. You should never think that you have to achieve something worldly in order to be more equipped to do something Godly. It’s often quite the opposite that is true.
As for discerning the will of God, well, you just have to read the end of Romans 12:2 - “what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God didn’t put us here to be robots specifically suited for one job in the factory. Having specialized skills and fitting into a labor category are man-made concepts. Only your boss cares how good you are at your job, and even then only to the extent that you don’t rock the boat. God didn’t create you for a “job,” he created you for a relationship. The will of God is that you love Him and your neighbors, and that’s something that we must continually do. We might show our love by the work that we do, such as cutting our neighbor’s grass, or building shelters for the homeless, but the relationship - rather than the physical product - is to be the main focus.
To be good and acceptable and perfect doesn’t mean that you achieve some final goal, or fill some ultimate role, and then stop. They are directions rather than destinations. You have to keep moving in those directions, regardless of where you are at right now, and even if you make a few wrong turns along the way. Don’t ever expect to be good or acceptable or perfect, but don’t ever give up on moving in that direction either.
So, you can see that having faith in God is not something you should think of as just a ticket to heaven. Faith is a responsibility as well as a gift, and the responsibility that comes with faith is one of building and nurturing loving relationships with God and with everyone around us.
με αγαπη,
BJ