Faith Requires Action

"When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”  He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. " John 6:5-6

 Oh, I just love this!! I can just picture this scene. Jesus is watching all this from the Father’s eyes and knows the answer even before the question comes about. The disciples are worried and trying to figure out in their human logic, how can they begin to feed all the people. They seek human solutions and have not opened their spiritual eyes. They have not begun to believe in Jesus, that He is the son of God, even after miracle upon miracle. Hello?! Don’t you guys get it yet? Jesus says that He came from Heaven and that God was His Father and yet, the disciples go back to the same old human thinking and reasoning. Jesus was testing them with a real life situation. They could say with their mouths that they believed, but unless they put their faith and belief into action, it really does not mean anything. (James 2:17) This is the same for us. We can say we have faith and trust in God but when the real life situation comes to test our faith, do we exercise our faith? When the medical tests show a negative report, can you walk in faith? When you get laid off a job and there is no work in sight, can you walk in faith? When your aging parent is slowly declining, can you walk in faith? This is where all that we have learned in scripture is now going to take a physical action and response from us. Now we have to walk it and not just talk it! Jesus tested the disciples in their faith and in the end, Jesus performed a miracle not with the purpose of feeding the multitude, but to point the way to God through himself. He was the Messiah, the son of God. I am grateful for this verse today for it is about not just knowing about scripture and God’s promises, but it is about when the rubber meets the road, how are we all going to do? Will we actually put our faith into action?  We are to give Jesus what we have and then He will provide the miracle. It starts with us - we do our part and He will do his.
Question: Is your faith being tested? How can you walk in faith through this challenge?