Faith vs. Saving Faith

For some reason, I have a hard time accepting things from people whether it’s help, gifts, compliments, or even just small tokens of kindness. (Ahem...PRIDE...Ahem. At least that’s what it is for me many times.) Anyway, besides that, what’s especially interesting is how even the smallest of gestures are sometimes even harder to accept! For example, a couple of weeks ago, someone offered me a chair, not to keep, but just to sit in while watching a soccer game. This person had an extra chair. They weren’t using it. I was standing. The logical thing for me to do would have been to accept this person’s offer a comfortable chair and sit down. But instead, I stood awkwardly next to the person with the chair so that I didn’t “inconvenience” them, even though they were graciously offering. Smart, right?

In not wanting to take this person’s offer, though, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t think that the chair wouldn’t hold me. In fact, I believed the chair could indeed hold my weight. I also knew that sitting in that chair would make watching the game more enjoyable. I believed that the chair would have done everything that a chair could do. But what I lacked was faith in the chair, meaning that I didn’t actually lay a hold of what the full benefits of what that chair could really offer. I didn’t rest in it and I didn’t let it take the load of my weight.

Often, this is how we regard our faith. The word “faith” is often used simply to express that we believe something to be true. There are many people who have “faith,” meaning that they believe that something outside of themselves exists, whether it is a god, an outcome that they expect, a path for their life, their belief in science, etcetera, etcetera. And there are even many people who call themselves Christians who believe that God exists, but that is as far as their faith ever goes. They believe that he is there, but that’s it.

But this type of faith is not what God calls us to have in Him. He wants us to have saving faith. The difference between the two is as simple as believing that a chair exists versus actually sitting in the chair. One requires real faith that the chair will do what it is supposed to do. One theologian named John Theodore Mueller wrote,

Saving faith is not a general belief in the existence of God or in the diving Law of God; for this belief is also held by the heathen...Saving faith is therefore personal trust, or cordial confidence, in the wonderful message of the Gospel that God for Christ’s sake is gracious to all who believe in the atoning blood of His Son shed on Calvary for the sins of the world. Hence saving faith is found only in the heart that says: “I believe that Jesus Christ...is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”

Saving faith is when we fully rest that Jesus died for our sin and resting in His promises to us. Luther says of this type of faith, “You must rely with constant trust on this, that Christ died for your sins; such a faith justifies you.”

Saving faith is actively trusting God for salvation. It rests fully in Jesus’ promises and His leading. Saving faith tells us that no matter what we’re experiencing, we are His, bought with a price. This faith allows us to rest in His promises to uphold us and keep us and that when this life is over that we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven that He has established for us. This saving faith is in the Person of Jesus Christ who has made all of this possible!

How would you describe your faith? Do you have faith that God simply exists? Or does your faith cling to Christ and His incredible offer of the forgiveness of sins won for you on the cross? There is a difference; one is a mental exercise, the other is our eternal hope!

Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor Evan