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Faith requires us to logon to the goodness and power of God. In the face of what we experience externally, we may thus stand firm inwardly. Faith has to be exercised and tested and we will experience the power of God in our lives. Our daily lives must exhibit the practical outworking of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Is faith in Jesus adequate for salvation? The faith of the early believers in Galatia was being tested. They had faith in Jesus and committed their lives to Him as their Lord and Saviour. But they were confronted by strong demands from some Jewish “circumcision group” believers to conform to Mosaic customs. The Apostle Paul had taught them that Jesus’ death on the cross met the law’s requirement of death for sin. By being crucified with Christ, believers died to sin and thus met the requirement of the law. Participating by faith in the death of Christ (“I have been crucified with Christ”), believers now are to live by the power of the resurrected Christ (“Christ lives in me”). The new life that follows is a life lived for Christ, not for self. Christ is the source of life and righteousness.

Is it possible to live out our faith in Jesus privately? Indeed, faith in Jesus requires us to commune with Him – daily, moment by moment. Yet, while there is a new spiritual identity (“I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”), faith in Jesus is also the basis of our social identity. Believers show Christ-centred lives through their relationship and interaction with other believers. Without the social dimension, our faith in Jesus degenerates into individualism. The demand was made on the Jewish believers to stay separate from Gentiles believers for the sake of personal purity (Gal. 2:11-12). Such an individualistic outlook threatened to divide the church. Even today, without the spiritual dimension, all efforts to maintain unity in the church will be fruitless. Being Christ-centred keeps believers from being I-centred. (Our Church 2010 banner pictorially shows this)

Can I have faith in Jesus and remain passive? Gal. 2:20 underscores the necessity of active faith in Jesus: “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God”. Active faith in Jesus means obedience; it is Jesus who is now at the centre of my life. The heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 hold the evidence – they all lived with “God-centred active faith” and they changed the world around them. May Jesus help each of us to live as a true believer not a “make-believer”.