Do You Have to Earn Your Way to Heaven? Or is Faith Enough?
Message: I am wrestling with the idea of faith and what that looks like as a follower of Christ. I have been a Christian for about 5 years and I love God and Jesus with all of my heart. I pray to Him and try to understand His Word to the best of my ability, but I struggle with what true faith looks like and what God wants from us. I have heard that he wants a relationship with us. I talk to Him often and listen for Him to speak to me. I think about Him before and after my actions. I struggle with the idea of how I can have faith and still be sinful. I understand God has endless love for us and that he gave us Christ as a teacher and sacrifice so that we could have a relationship with Him even after our life on this Earth has ended. However, there are two main differences of opinion in what faith looks like.
1) Earning or Proving Through Action: Some argue that actions help earn your way to Heaven. Others argue that a true believer’s actions will prove or demonstrate their faith.
2) There is Nothing You Can Do But Believe: Others argue that faith is enough. As long as you reach out to God and believe in the Gospel that is enough. God will work through you and since man will never fully rise above sin, you can only believe.
I agree with parts of both of these concepts, but each by itself has flaws. What does a human of true faith look and act like besides the example of Jesus? Is the point that we can always aim to be more like Jesus and that God will help us, but yet it is never attainable? Does how much I care and the amount of faith I have in my heart count, or is he looking for how my actions speak by themselves. Humans will never be perfect, not even those that follow Christ, so what does God expect from followers of Christ in terms of faith? How do I know I am doing the best I can to love and respect God?
Response: We hear it all the time, we need to be strong and have faith in Christ and trust in Him. You asked such an important question: “What is faith, how can you show it as Christian and is there really a point to all this?” These are big questions and I am glad that you have come here for advice as to how to address these big items in your spiritual life. They are important to understand and will ultimately help long term as you build that relationship with God that you’ve been talking about.
The first question to unpack is “What is faith?” In Hebrews 11:1 it says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.” Faith at its core, works hand in hand with trust and trusting in what God can do for your life. By having unwavering faith in Jesus, he will reveal to you things previously unseen. By being faithful to him, it will show in your life, as God will be living fully inside of you.
Understanding what faith looks like can be difficult for those of us who like to have the concrete evidence in front of our own eyes. For example, you know a car will run when you see that it has an engine and all the other necessary parts under the hood, has gas, and tires. But faith is more like the wind, we cannot necessarily see the wind but we can see how it affects the world around it. The wind can bring a cooling breeze on a hot summer day, or be strong enough to destroy a town. Faith is strong because we can see how it affects us and others, the same as the wind. When we have faith in God, it shows in our own lives, in the way we carry ourselves and treat others. Faith is strong and powerful without necessarily being seen as a physical construct.
Faith is also described in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.” Faith from solely works is not necessarily enough, but neither is just saying “I believe” and then boom, you are faithful and automatically accepted into heaven. These two thought processes can stem from people reading Romans 3:28 where it says “a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” but in James 2:24 it says “a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” So why is the Bible contradicting itself? Seems very confusing for a book that is supposed to be our road map to this thing we call life. But in reality, the Bible is not contradicting itself, but rather letting us know that BOTH are important to living a faithful life.
We need to believe wholeheartedly, and intellectually understand faith, but it is important to also exercise this faith through works. Good works give us that concrete proof that God is working and that we are his faithful followers. Having both wholehearted faith and then acting on that faith by doing good deeds, completes the idea of what faith truly is and how God wants us to exercise it. God knows the intentions of your heart and if you let Him, He will be able to help you strengthen your faith. We live a sinful life because we live in a sinful world. What we can do as Christians, is call upon Jesus to help us overcome sin each and every day and remain faithful to Him always. By starting off each day with prayer and devotion, you are growing that relationship with Him, giving Him opportunities to guide and lead your day, and demonstrating trust and faith.
I pray that you will gain further understanding on the topic of faith and what it truly means to you. There are some good Christian books that speak on personal growth and also touch on the topic of faith. A good recommendation for a book is called “How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals About Personal Growth” by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. This book is a great read and further explores topics such as faith and many other aspects of Christian life that can seem ethereal or confusing. I’m sending prayers for clarity your way!
