Croup-like Faith

My middle child suffers from asthma. I don’t think there are many things more frightening than to wake up in the middle of the night to see your child gasping for breath. Simply put, asthma is a condition of the lungs that makes it difficult to inhale. Croup is the exact opposite—croup makes it difficult to exhale. If you have ever watched someone suffering from croup or asthma, you understand on a visceral level that breathing requires the ability to inhale and exhale—you have not breathed if you have only inhaled.

In June, I delivered a message called “Seeing is Believing: spiritual maturity is not about what you know, but what you do.” I was challenged by the fact that people can do things without knowledge. Can such things be considered faith? I offer Romans 2:14-16 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

Faith is like breathing. One cannot only inhale certain beliefs to be considered faithful, but must also exhale certain actions. Intellectual assent has never been good enough. The devil can sign off on our church doctrinal statements. In fact, the devil could correct many of them, simply by having been an eye-witness of Christ’s work on the cross.

James makes it clear that belief must result in certain actions in order to be faith. But, can it be said that certain actions, point to latent beliefs--also an indication of faith? To use the illustration—when someone exhales, they must have inhaled. When Gentiles instinctively do the things of the Law they show that the work of the Law is written on their hearts. What they exhale, shows what they inhale. “. . . he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

In scripture, action is often traced to its source. “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” “The heart is the wellspring of life.” “You will know a tree by its fruit.” “I am the Vine you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.” The disposition of the heart, the taproot of our lives, determines our actions. The north American church culture has a croup-like faith. We have trouble exhaling. In a church culture that is more comfortable with knowing than with loving others, the message must be: spiritual maturity is not about what you know, but what you do. We must exhale to consummate a breath. We must do in order to consummate belief. Consummation precedes conception. Belief in action births faith.