Faith and Belief

This week I have been studying a little bit about the difference between faith and belief. I found that faith and belief are very different things. Belief in the dictionary is defined as a view, a mindset, or a way of thinking about something in particular. Faith on the other hand is a trust or a confidence in something that we can't see the end result of. Belief is something that we feel and think, but when we have a true trust and confidence in something, we will act on it. That is faith.

I think of the difference between faith and belief as the same difference between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is a sure witness that something is true, or real. It is an understanding of a principle. So for instance I might know that smoking is harmful to people's bodies, but I may start smoking anyways. If I knew it was harmful, and I do it anyways it wouldn't be a very wise decision. So wisdom is the applied knowledge. Faith is having enough confidence to act on your beliefs. This makes faith a principle of action. It is through faith, or acting on our trust in Christ, that we can obtain blessings.

Even though faith and belief are very different things, faith requires belief. How could you every obtain something unless you had first believed you could do it? If I wanted to be a great trombonist (which I do) I would need to first believe that I could be a great trombonist. But all the believing, hoping, dreaming, and desiring us for nothing if I never pick up a trombone and get to it. In the same way, we can never develop faith in Christ unless we are willing to kneel down and pray, and get to it. 

I could believe a commandment was good as long as I like, but until I try it and have faith enough to obey, I will never see for myself whether or not it was of God. This is what James is talking about in James 2:19, 'Thou believest there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble.' Having belief is great. But what are we going to do about it? 

I have found for myself that this fact is true. Faith without works is dead. There have been many things that I've wanted and desired and believed I could have but I never put in the work to get it done. Don't let your beliefs lie dormant. Christ lives and loves us. He died for us, and when we have faith so we can fully accept him we will see our lives change.