“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. ~Revelation 3:15-17 (NLT)
Check Your Heart
When your heart is in it, you are passionate about it, you want to do it, and the challenges that arise do not make you want to just quit. If your heart isn’t in your faith and it is just lip service because that is what you have been taught, or you are just repeating what the Minister said, it has no sustainability. Nowadays, in business, you often hear people say, “What is your Why?” This question applies not only to business, but to every aspect of your life. What is your “Why?” for your family and relationships? Career? Education? Physical Well Being? Mental stability? Finances? And of course, with God?
Do you belong to a church because people say you should or because you believe you should?
Are you involved in ministry activities because you want to be or because you feel like you have to be?
If your heart isn’t in it, it will not sustain you. If you are only repeating what is being said and doing what others think you should do thinking this will help your faith, you are sadly mistaken. Eventually, the real attitude will reveal itself, the real motives will come to the forefront, and the truth will be evident.
Check your heart and ask yourself how much you read God’s word for yourself, how much time you spend with God in relationship with Him to get to know Him, and how much you check your motives against His blueprint for your life.
Fake faith does it because they said you should. Authentic faith does it because your heart is passionate about nurturing it.
Check Your Understanding
If you are doing something for the right reason but without complete understanding, it’s probably not going to grow and evolve. If you know that you need water in a pool in your yard to go swimming, but you do not understand the proper balance of pH and chlorine levels to prevent unwanted growth and harmful bacteria that irritates the skin, just putting water in that pool may not work out for you in the long term. If someone tells you that you need a pH of 4 and a chlorine level of 7 and you do not understand for yourself what these levels mean and how they affect your pool and the skin, it won’t work out so well. It is when you gain an understanding of the proper levels and why exceeding or falling below these levels are harmful, that you can appreciate and practice good habits for a safe pool for your family.
Our faith is the same way. Until you begin to understand how to not only activate your faith, but grow your faith, you could have disappointments that prevent the very growth you are looking for. How many times have you prayed for something or about something, but it worked out a bit differently than you anticipated? Without an understanding of the scripture that all things work for your good, you would think that losing that job or that relationship was the end of your happiness. However actually losing those things opened doors that would have remained shut had you never let go of those things. A growing understanding of God’s scriptures beyond just the words in the Bible is the foundation for preventing fake faith and fueling a forever faith. It is one thing to read the word based off someone’s suggestions, but it is another thing to research the scriptures for the meanings behind the words and thoroughly understand what the words mean. When you can explain a scripture to someone else in detail, that is a good indication that you understand not only what proper pH and chlorine levels are, but why they are what they are and what can happen if they aren't. God will open your understanding of His word, if you seek Him, ask Him, and listen for His reply.
Fake faith takes others word as the truth. Authentic faith researches the truth for themselves to gain a complete understanding of not only the word, but the end to end process of that word.
Fake faith results in motives that are selfish and empty rather than passionate actions that bless beyond self.
Fake faith results in a superficial understanding as opposed to complete insight of the what, the how, and the why.
Fake faith creates clones instead of warriors who creates other warriors of faith.
How will you nurture a more authentic faith?