Belief vs Faith

Hello Everyones, Everyones.

I hope that you all are doing well this fine Monday.  The weekend went by way too fast for me, however, I am happy to see another day and blessed to have a job in which to go.  Being out of work for just over 8 months changes your whole perspective on griping about having to get up to go to work!

Even though the weekend went by fast, I caught several televised sermons on Sunday.  One of the people I watched was Dr. Fred K.C. Price from Crenshaw Christian Faith Center.  I caught the second half of the sermon, however, in it he talked about faith and how we synonymously use it with the word belief. At this point, he had my attention, because I thought believing and having faith was one in the same.  Dr. Price went through a couple of examples to illustrate his point and I will try to recall them here for you.

In his first point, he told those who drove to church that upon leaving to take their keys in their right hand.  Next, he told them to stand on the hold of their car and scream to the top of the lungs, "THIS IS MY CAR! I BELIEVE THAT I AM GOING TO PUT MY KEY IN THE IGNITION, START THE CAR AND DRIVE HOME" (this may not be exact, but I have captured the point).  The problem with this is that it is very true, however, you can stand on top of your car screaming until the cows come home.  Until you get off your hood and physically get into your car, start it up and go home, all you have done is believed.  The act of getting into the car and doing what you said you believe is faith (hence, James 2:20)!

The difference is so subtle that you miss it, however, the fact that we miss it can convolute our understanding of both belief and faith.  The two work hand-in-hand and cannot be separated, but at the same time they are different.  This leads to Dr. Price's next illustration.  He said look at a US coin.  On one side you have heads.  On the other side you have tails.  In order for it to be considered legal tender in this country it must have both the heads and tails.  If either one of the sides were to be rubbed off, anyone has the right to refuse the coin as legal tender.  After all, it is not complete with a heads and tails.  This is the same with faith and belief.  God put them both together and in us we have a coin with faith on one side and belief on the other.  Neither can co-exist without the other and thus gives us the "legal-tender" to do "business" with the Lord!

Now, I wish I could have read that in scripture and came up with this all by myself, however, I did not LOL.  What I do feel though is that this was too good of information not to share with you all, so I hope this has helped you as much as it has myself.

Be blessed and have a good one folks!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33