Faith in April Fool's Day

Dan Phillips at Pyromaniacs had an interesting article about a man who broke up a robbery because he thought it was April Fool’s Day. Phillips brings out that if you were just watching the video camera at the bank you would have thought that this man was performing a feat of bravery.

Think of it. Why was Stewart so calm and so brave? Well, really, he was calm; but he wasn't brave, exactly, was he? Stewart was calm because of his faith. Stewart believed that it was all just an April Fool's hoax. No bravery required.

But here's the thing: he was wrong! He was just (what most folks would call) lucky. If there'd been a gun, we wouldn't be chuckling. Nor would Stewart.

Phillips goes on and ties this event in with James 2:14…

Say it's not Stewart we're watching without sound. It's you. It's me.

Can you tell what we believe, and why? The things we spend the most time on, feel the most strongly about, invest the most of ourselves in — what do they say about our faith? Our priorities, our goals, our rules of engagement — looking at them, what do we believe?

Do we live boldly, confidently, riskily, like people who believe they have a loving, giving, kind, sovereign Father who has dealt fully and finally with all their sins, forever, in Christ? Think of the roll-call of faith in Hebrews 11, and the amazing feats accomplished by people who really, truly believed in the Word of God. Do we live like people who believe that His word is our law, for our thoughts and choices and affections?

Phillips definitely brings up some interesting points. I would like to amplify one point he makes at the end of the post. Faith is not just belief; biblical faith is belief in action. Whenever the Bible speaks about faith is has this implication. Therefore when we define faith we should include action in our definition. Faith without action isn’t really faith.