Is Faith a Consequence of Action?

Nathan Stam
Communications/Children's Pastor

Is faith a source of action? Or is it a consequence of action? Can it be both?

Check out this excerpt from David G. Meyers:

We are as likely to act ourselves into a way of thinking as to think ourselves into action. We are as likely to believe in what we have stood up for as to stand up for what we believe. Especially when we feel responsible for how we have acted, our attitudes follow our behavior. This self-persuasion enables all sorts of people--political campaigners, lovers, even terrorists--to believe more strongly in that which they have witnessed or suffered.

This realization--that inner attitude and outer behavior, like chicken and egg, generate one another--parallels a Judeo-Christian idea: inner faith and outer action likewise feed one another. Thus, faith is a source of action. Elijah is overwhelmed by the holy as he huddles in a cave. Paul is converted on the Damascus road. Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah undergo inner transformations. In each case, a new spiritual consciousness produces a new pattern of behavior.

But faith is also a consequence of action. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, faith is nurtured by obedient action. The Hebrew word for know is usually an action verb, something one does. To know love, one must not only know about love, one must act lovingly. Philosophers and theologians note how faith grows as people act on what little faith they have. . . . "The proof of Christianity really consists in 'following,'" declared Soren Kierkegaard.

So, what do you think? Does the practice of faith result in the habit of faith?