The Difference Faith Makes

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Let me ask
you a few questions. What difference did your faith in Christ make yesterday?
What difference will your faith make to today? What about tomorrow? God wants your faith to grow. For many of us our faith is about the size of
a speck of dust, very miniscule and almost impossible to see. I use a speck of
dust as an illustration because Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, “if we have faith
that is the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains.” In other words (my paraphrase) if you want to
see God’s hand move, you must have faith.

There’s an
old story about a traveler in the early days of the west. When he came to a
large river, he discovered there was no bridge. Fortunately it was winter and
the great river was sheeted over with ice. But the traveler was afraid to trust
himself to it, not knowing how thick it was. Finally with infinite caution, he
crept on his hands and knees and managed to get halfway over. And then he heard
singing coming from behind him. Cautiously he turned, and there, out of the
dusk, came another traveler, driving a four-horse load of coal over the ice,
singing as he went! We can choose to be cautious in living out God’s vision or
we can have bold assurance of joy knowing that God will reward our faith.

 Have you
ever wondered what faith looks like when it is lived out with the intent of God
doing great things in and through your life? The person who lives by faith, acknowledges
the presence of God. Living faith recognizes that God is in absolutely
everything. Living faith gets up in the morning and realizes everywhere he goes
God goes too. And everything we are in, God is in. Living faith has the
constant awareness of God’s presence in life. Living faith gets up every day
and says, “God I know you are here. I may not understand what you are doing but
I know you are here. I know you are in every part of my life.” Do you get up in
the morning realizing that when you go to work God is going to be there? Faith
is a choice. You choose to take God at His Word and act accordingly. You chose
to believe on the evidence you see. Faith is not a feeling it is a choice. You
might say, “I don’t feel like getting up today. I don’t feel like going to
work. I don’t feel like going to church. I don’t feel like (you fill in the
blank). You often choose to act regardless of how you feel. To follow Jesus is
a choice.

Do you remember a time in your life when you experienced faith –when you made a
choice to take a risk?

Are you
living out your faith in a way that is visible? Is your faith more than words that you may sing in a song on Sunday
morning or a subject you talk about around fellow believers? Is your faith
making a difference in your life and in the lives of those around you? I want to share a story from D.C. Talk’s
book, Jesus Freaks, Volume II,
regarding how some people are living out their faith. The story is of Li De
Xian and his wife Zhao Xia of Mainland China who have been arrested, beaten, and forced to work in the prison factory
putting light bulbs into strings of Christmas lights to be sold in America! Their tortures have included being
tied to a bed for four days and beaten on their buttocks with cane poles. Why are they been treated this way by their
government? Is it because they are a modern day Bonnie and Clyde and have committed heinous acts of
crime? No. Li De Xian is a pastor of an evangelical church. Through all that he
and his wife have had to suffer, he is not deterred in preaching the gospel of
Christ to his countrymen. He keeps a change
of clothes and a blanket in a duffle bag ready for the next time he is
arrested. In 2000, the Public Security Bureau confiscated his church and welded
the doors shut. In his story he says, “Don’t feel
sorry for us. At least we are constantly reminded that we are in a spiritual
war. We know for whom we are fighting.
We know who the enemy is. And we are fighting. Perhaps we should pray for you
Christians outside of China. In your leisure, in your
affluence, in your freedom, sometimes you no longer realize that you are in
spiritual warfare.”[i]

Here is a
man that is living out his faith for Christ. Why? God’s vision for his life
overshadows the desire to have leisure, freedom, or affluence. He is consumed with the passion to reach
people for Christ, regardless of the situation. By the way, it is estimated that twelve hundred Chinese come to Christ
every hour. You do the math.

Sometimes
when we try to do things God’s way instead of getting better things get worse.
Instead of having less problems, new problems pop up, instead of finding
support we find every reason to give up. People will say, “I gave it a shot and
God failed me.”

Living out
your faith is never easy. When you take a step of faith the devil will whisper,

“It will never work. Not for you. Not someone with your history. Don’t make a
fool of yourself, God is not interested.” Those kinds of thoughts keep us from
living by faith. God says don’t listen, don’t give up, don’t give in. How can
we ever expect to live out God’s vision for our lives if we do not live out our
faith in action? Remember, vision is the ability to see a preferred future and
then to take action to develop that vision. What future do you see?