Faith is inner action. We must make a transaction of faith, maybe on our knees, maybe by signing name and date against a verse, maybe by public confession or to a friend.
But that is only where the battle of present tense faith begins. What are we to do with that undertow of unbelief which seems to pull us backward, as when a swimmer struggles against an undercurrent? We must note the following carefully, for it is a point that we have not touched on before. There are stages in faith; and we often get into much confusion by attempting to claim as 100% faith what is really only 50% or 25%. In the language of scripture there is little faith, great faith, and perfect faith.
Let us examine this more closely. We have said from the beginning that the God-given faculty of faith is the means by which human beings receive and use all God’s varied gifts. In other words, faith is not to be confused with mere mental assent to a proposition; that may be called “belief,” for want of a better word, although belief in scripture is usually synonymous with faith. Nor is faith some vague hope for the future. Faith is action; the whole man in action, spiritual, mental, physical. We have abundantly illustrated that by such natural acts as eating and drinking, or the first great act of the awakened spirit in receiving Christ as Savior. Now, because it is action, it has certainty and not doubt as its motivating power. That is to say, we perform the act of eating because we are sure of the food, we see it with our eye, we believe it is good for us. We take the step of humbly accepting Christ, because we are sure of His grace, we believe He died for our sins, we see the statements of Scripture. Faith therefore always has the thing in its grasp or at its disposal that it acts upon or uses. That is faith; the having and using the unlimited resources of God in nature and grace. That is perfect faith. (p. 55, 56)
Is your faith in action?
