Everyone is a person of faith.
Feathers will ruffle from that statement, and for different reasons. Some will say, “Not everyone is a believer in God!” Others, “I am not religious” or, “I don’t believe in God, I am an atheist.”
Everyone believes or places their trust in something. This fact makes everyone a person of faith. If not a supreme being, then science, money, political views, themselves, and philosophy are things people trust.
However, believing in something does not mean you trust in it.
I believe eating salad is healthy for you. I believe salad is good food to eat while attempting to lose weight. I need to lose weight, but I cannot remember the last time I ate a salad.
In other words, I have a head knowledge of the facts, but I do not have the heart gumption to put those facts into practice. I have a problem, the need to lose weight; I understand that eating salad will help eliminate my problem. Still, my heart, regardless of the truth, does not take action on the facts.
That is an example of belief without trust. Satan is another example of belief without trust. James 2:19, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Satan acknowledges the fact of God, the same as I recognize the benefits of salad. However, Satan trusts in himself. He believes in God but does not trust in God (Isaiah 14:12-15).
The world and churches are full of individuals that believe but do not trust. They believe the facts — there is one God, Jesus died as the sacrifice for our sins, He rose again the third day, God will never leave me nor forsake me, He created the universe, the list goes on. Yet, they do not trust the facts.
The Bible clearly states that we are all sinners. Every one of us has done multiple crimes against God. Have you ever lied, lusted, or stolen (we call it “sneak”) a piece of candy or a cookie when you were a kid?
At this moment, people are reading this, thinking, “I’ve never done anything that bad! I’ve never robbed a bank or something like that!” Well, we all will agree that robbing one bank makes someone a bank robber. Then why will people argue that telling one lie does not make them a liar?
The fact is we are all sinners, and God made the rules that sinless blood is the only way to wash sins away and restore our relationship with Him. The blood of Christ is the only means of salvation and eternal life (John 1:4; 11:25; 14:6; Romans 5:21; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 John 5:12).
Yet ask this question, “If you died today; why would you go to heaven and have eternal life?”
Suppose you claim to be a Christian. And the answer to the above question is a religious ritual like baptism, or your goodness, or a combination of other solutions without Christ’s blood. In that case, you believe the facts, but don’t place trust in them. Like salad, you know the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice, but you trust in something else. It is belief without trust.
People claim to believe in prayer, but is that true when prayer is the last option instead of the first choice? Is prayer the reading of a list, or do we tell God our innermost feelings and opinions? Can we say we believe in prayer when we do not pray until we have tried several other options?
As mentioned earlier, some do not claim faith in God or religion. They have confidence in science, themselves, philosophy, or whatever.
Everyone is a person of faith; however, the trust may not be in God, even when they think it is.
