From Beliefs to Faith

      Have you ever seen the Christmas move "Polar Express"? Every ticket is marked with a word by the very end of the movie. It is one word that each child needs. The main child needs the word "believe". He did not believe that Santa was real and because he did not believe, he could not hear the bells ring. He just stood there confused why every single person could hear the bells but him. Do you ever sit there and wonder why everyone else believes something that you don't? This could be  that they believe one political leader is the best person for the job, or that country music is better than pop music. You don't have to necessarily agree, but you have no idea why they believe the way they do. Today I just want to take a minute to explain briefly what the difference between our beliefs and faith are.
      You can believe in and have faith in some of the same things. A lot of times these words are used interchangeably, but there actually is a difference in these words.

Faith = belief + action

      If I have learned anything this year, it is that belief alone is not going to get you where you want to be.
      See, I have been struggling for most of this year. Honestly, there has been little reason for my struggles. The first part of my struggle was understandable. I was taking 20 credits in one semester, but I actually quite enjoyed that semester. Emotionally and spiritually, I was a hot mess.
      I believe that with God all things are possible, but I also believe that you need to put in some work. God is not going to do everything for us. Certainly He will help us. He will guide us and lift us up. He will strengthen us, so that we can accomplish what we need if we cannot do it on our own. God is not going to sit there and do things for us as if He were our very own butler or chauffeur. God is not there as our personal assistant. If anything, we are His personal assistants. Sometimes we are called upon to help in the cause of one of His children's lives.
      I believe that reading my scriptures is good. I believe that praying is good. What good are any of these things if there is never any action. Let me tell you from experience, nothing good is going to come from your lack of action.
      Do you see that little equation up there? No? Look again. Just believing is going to make us objects to those actors. Do you want to be an object who only gets moved when someone acts upon it or do you want to be the one moving all the other objects? We were made to live life to its fullest, but we can't do that sitting on the sidelines.
      Everyone is busy making New Year's Resolutions, but over here I am not making specific goals ,or resolutions, to get thin, get great grades or to finally let go things that I need to forgive people of. I simply want to act on my beliefs. I want to be intentional. Our actions should be intentional. When we are taking intentional actions, I believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. If you believe that you can lose weight, then take the intentional actions to help yourself lose weight. God is not going to make those extra pounds fall right off of you. He is going to wait for you to put in the work. If you want to get good grades, then you have to stop binge watching Netflix (or whatever it is that you are watching or doing). You have to put in the hours studying and working on homework.
      Your goals do not just magically become completed my friend. Let's make 2019 the year that we get off our butts and take leaps of faith. Let's starting putting our beliefs into action and turn them into faith