Faith Inactive Is Faith Ineffective

My husband has a love-hate relationship with change. Mostly hate, really. Our bank issued him a new debit card recently -- the whole "in light of recent identity concerns..." thing. Blah, blah, blah.  He carried it for weeks, refusing to use it because "the old card was working just fine." Until it wasn't.

"They're gonna shut it off," I warned. "You'd better activate your new one."

The words "CARD DECLINED" finally prompted him to do so.

Today I was reading Hebrews 11:1-2:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony."

Faith is the substance, the essence, the manifestation of something for which we hope; the proof, the veracity of something invisible, something you can't even see. Pretty heady stuff. But here's the part that got me: "By it (faith) the elders obtained a good testimony." By their faith, those who went before us, those spiritual heavyweights like Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Mary, Stephen -- received a good testimony. Now, that might mean their faith was vetted and proven authentic; or, their faith testifies to us of God's faithfulness through their histories recorded in Scripture. Maybe it's a little of both. But I want to draw your attention to the fact it was their faith that procured them a good testimony about their faith. It had to be active for it to be effective.

Abraham's faith enabled him to take Isaac up the mountain. Moses' faith enabled him to lead hundreds of thousands of grumbling, rebellious Israelites through a barren wilderness, day after day, for forty years. Rahab's faith enabled her to gather her family into her home, watch as Israel surrounded her city day after day, and trust the word of two complete strangers that she and her family would be saved. Mary's faith enabled her to look Joseph, her husband-to-be, straight in the eye and gleefully anticipate the birth of the child in her womb. (Joseph's faith enabled him to take her face in his hands and look back.) Stephen's faith enabled him to take stone after stone, gaze heavenward, and forgive his murderers. That was some pretty incredible faith! But without it being tested, how would anyone know what great faith they had?

What if any of them had replied, "Let's talk about this some other time, when I've built up a little more faith"? Faith is like a muscle: it doesn't get built up unless it's in use. Faith says, "I know..." without ever really seeing; but faith tested -- or exercised -- not only says my faith is real, but it says God is real as well. Being on the other side of tested faith demonstrates what God can do and gives further evidence for stronger faith.

For my husband, relinquishing his old card was difficult -- don't ask me why, it's just one of those "Scott things" I've grown to love. But in order for him to do what he needs to do, when he needs to do it; in order for his card to yield what it was designed for, he had to give up his way of doing things; and he had to make sure his new card was active. Carrying his old dead card -- or even his new inactive one -- was pointless.

Just like inactive, untested, ineffective faith.