Two Traits of Genuine Faith

We’ve seen enough examples of inauthentic faith to know that not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord” really loves and trusts Him (see Matt 7:21-23). But the well-publicized episodes of failure by high-profile faith leaders only proves that it’s easy to deceive others and deceive ourselves about our faith. How can we know that our faith is genuine? How can we know whether we really love and trust Him?

Our problem is that it is so easy to lie to ourselves, so easy to tell ourselves that our faith is genuine when it is not. After all, the ancient Hebrew prophet was right: each of us has a heart that is “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked… who can know it?” (Jer 17:9, KJV).

Scripture gives us at least two sure indicators of whether our faith is genuine: our pattern of obedience and our perseverance.

1. Our pattern of obedience is an indicator of our heart’s posture before God.

James wrote his letter to combat what we now call “easy believism,” the notion that all that matters in faith is mental assent. And he pulls no punches: we are lying to ourselves if we imagine that our faith has no bearing on the way we live our lives. To hear God’s Word with no intention of obeying it is an exercise in self-deception: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1:22).

It would be easy to turn this biblical injunction into a formula for legalism. Like the well-behaved Pharisees, I can define the quality of my faith by my outward behavior and hide a corrupt heart that is far from God. But if my heart’s posture is oriented toward God in love and trust, my life will inevitably be characterized by a pattern of obedience. That heart posture will be most evident when I am disobedient: I will be quick to turn away from my sin in confession and repentance.

This explains how David, the adulterer who conspired to murder his lover’s husband, could be considered “a man after God’s own heart.” His sin was outrageous, but his deep and sincere repentance revealed the quality of his faith.

Genuine faith is a heart posture that is exhibited in a pattern of obedience.

2. Our perseverance is a sure indicator of our heart’s posture before God.

This is the theme we’re seeing in our study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Genuine faith is persevering faith. The “warning passages” in the letter drive home this point. If we “fall away” from our faith, it is because our faith was never genuine to begin with. After one of the most searing of those warnings, the writer of Hebrews reassures his readers: “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” (Heb 10:39, 35).

This is a binary that might be difficult for some to accept, but it seems to be a clear teaching in Scripture. I can’t have it both ways: either I persevere because my faith is genuine, or, because my faith never was genuine, I don’t persevere.  

Genuine faith is persevering faith.

How can I know whether my faith is genuine?
 
I think there is a “tell,” a moment of blinding insight when the inclinations of my inscrutable heart are on full display. It is when I have sinned, when I have rebelled against my Father and King. In that moment I can see whether the posture of my heart is inclined toward obedience and perseverance.

If my faith is not genuine, I won’t be sorry for my sin, only for the consequences. And if my faith is not genuine, I will move further down the road that the writer to the Hebrews warned about: hardness of heart that eventually bears fruit in unbelief.

But if my faith is genuine, when I rebel against God, I will turn back toward Him in genuine sorrow, and I will turn away from my sin in genuine confession and repentance.

Brothers and sisters, let us persevere in genuine faith.  

Persevere,
Paul Pyle
Pastor of Discipleship