Faith Working Through Love

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 166, Faith Working Through Love.

Galatians chapter five, verse six. Let this land:

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."

Paul is writing to a church that is losing its way. Not to obvious sin — losing its way to religion. People convinced that what mattered was the right ritual, the right mark, the right appearance in front of everyone else. And Paul comes in with a word that sweeps all of it off the table: it doesn't count. It has no effect. Before God, the religious résumé is worth nothing.

That is freeing. And it is also a challenge.

Because maybe you carry a résumé too. The years of faithful attendance, the number of times you've shown up, the verses you've memorized, the reputation you've carefully built. And Paul says: that is not what has effect. That is not what moves the heart of God.

What counts is faith. But not just any faith — faith working through love.

Everything begins in believing. Trusting Christ is the root, the soil, the starting point of everything. Without that, nothing else makes sense. But the faith Paul describes here never stays still. It is alive by nature. It moves. It serves. It bears fruit. A faith that never moves is like a seed sitting in a drawer — all the life is in there, but it will never produce anything until it's planted.

And the fuel that gets that faith moving is not the fear of getting it wrong. It is not the pressure of obligation. It is love.

Stay with that for a moment. Faith looks up to God and says: I trust You. Love looks outward to the person beside you and says: I care about you. And the two cannot be separated. Faith believes in God; love is the channel through which that faith reaches the people around you. When the two are held together — faith and love — something happens. Something that has effect. Something that God Himself values.

We are not measured by what we appear to be. We are not measured by what other people think of us. We are measured by a living faith that pours itself out in love. That, and that alone, is what counts before Him.

So here is the call for today. It's not complicated — but it will cost you something.

Think of someone in your life right now — someone you know is in need. Pray for that person. Really pray, from the heart. And then, today, do for them the very thing you asked God to do. Did you pray that someone would comfort them? Be that someone. Did you ask God to help them? Go help them yourself. Carry what you say you believe all the way into one concrete act of love. That is how faith works. That is how it has effect.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.