Some people are fond of asking if others can tell what you believe by looking at your life. The truth is the answer to that question is always yes, because you always live what you actually believe. The real question is if you believe what you think you believe. The question is if you believe what you say you believe.
The ironic thing is that others can often tell what we believe better than we can. For example, if you say you believe in helping the poor and you promote social programs that do so, but you don’t give your own money to help the poor, then you don’t actually believe in helping the poor. You may think it’s a good idea that the poor have help, but you don’t actually believe in helping the poor. A complete stranger could take one look at your bank account and tell what you believe about helping the poor.
The same thing is true in every area of life. You may say you believe in being healthy but do you go the the gym and eat well? It’s easy to say you care about people more than possessions but does your life show that to be true? You might want to believe you are fearless but are you actually courageous when danger comes your way?
Your life is a book
As I was writing my first novel my wife was reading along. I would finish a chapter and hand it to her and she would read it. It doesn’t usually work that way because I normally write in seclusion, but for that story it worked. Your life tells a story. Your life is a book. In the same way my wife was reading my book, people are reading your life at the same time you are writing it. What story is your life telling? If you don’t know, ask a friend. Ask them to tell you ten things they know for sure that you believe. Be aware that it may be painful to hear how far off you are from the things you thought you believed.
I have one more example for you. This one is more personal. A couple of years ago I went through a really trying time. One where everything in my life was on the razor’s edge of falling apart. I didn’t see any way things in this particular situation could work out. It was an opportunity to have the faith I always said I had. It was an opportunity for me to trust. But I didn’t. Between you and me, I fell apart. I said I believed one thing but when the going got tough I clearly showed by my actions that I didn’t.
How much does it cost?
I think sometimes God lets us go through difficult times so that our beliefs will be defined for us. It’s easy to say you believe something, but how do you act when believing it costs you something? That’s how you know that you actually believe something, when it costs you something to believe it.
That’s how you know the disciples of Jesus actually believed he rose from the dead. Because history tells us it cost each one of them their life to believe it. Each of them was offered the opportunity to live if they would only deny Jesus rose from the dead. But they wouldn’t. To a man they chose to die because they believed what they said they believed.
You may not have to die in order to prove you believe something, but you do have to live like you believe what you say you believe in order to prove it.
