The Power of Belief

The book of Genesis introduces us to Abram. Abram is childless and does not yet believe that God will give him a son. Knowing this, God still makes a promise to Abram that he will be given an heir. And not just one heir: God tells Abram that his descendants will be as countless as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). This talks about both the physical children that Abram will have as well as the spiritual children he will gain through the faith, as Abraham is known as the father of faith.

What difference does belief make? Oftentimes, we lie to ourselves about our beliefs. We say that we trust God, but do we really? We say that we trust him with our money but refuse to donate to worthy causes. We say that we trust him with our time but covet it in an unhealthy way. Even Abram’s wife Sarai had a hard time believing God’s promise and gave her servant Hagar to her husband to have an heir for them (Genesis 16).

Belief is powerful, and our actions demonstrate what we truly believe. While our belief or even the actions we take don’t need to be perfect, our belief should be genuine. Genuine belief in God will cause us to take bigger risks: We gladly donate more time at work or more money to the homeless or in tithes. We can do this with confidence because we believe God will be glorified. We take our eyes off ourselves, off our expectation to receive a big "thank you" for what we’ve done.

So, let’s choose to cement our belief with tangible action. It could be as simple as praying for someone or buying a coffee for a friend. Allow the love of God to shine through us, and allow him to be glorified.