Many people have a poor understanding of faith. They think that faith is religion and customs that are carefully observed. And then they think that all this religious appearance is faith. But in fact, nothing could be further from God’s expectation.

When the Lord Jesus came to this world, in the flesh, He met one of the most religious people in the world. The Jews themselves were extremely religious. On the outside, they maintained customs; on the inside, they were oblivious to God.

God does not seek religious theatrics but sincerity. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23). “In spirit” means with intelligence, with the mind, associated with faith. “In truth” is without hypocrisy, without theatrics.

Others think that faith has to do with “religious emotions”. These people usually attribute emotions to faith, such as, for example, listening to a gospel song that touches the heart. (I’m not saying that God doesn’t use music, I’m saying that there are people who use the emotions caused by music as “faith”, and one thing has nothing to do with the other.)

If faith is not religiousness or a good feeling, what is it? It is obedience to the Word of God. It has no feeling, tradition, or emotions involved. It is a decision. “I’m going to try and find out what God wants me to do, whether feeling like it or not; I’m going to do it.” This is faith.

It’s obeying because I’m sure that His Word will not hurt me. It will always do me good. This is the faith that God expects from us: total trust in His Word.

I will mention an example illustrating the emotional conflict with the rational faith that pleases God. In Mark, chapter 5, we see the story of a very religious man. He was one of the heads of the Synagogue. He was called Jairus. He humbled himself to the Lord Jesus and prayed to Him because of his daughter, who was dying. So, that man, who was religious, at the time when his daughter was sick, religion did not help. What did he do? In desperation, he asked Jesus to help his daughter.

See that in spiritual ignorance, Jairus already had a “course” in his mind: he thought that Jesus would have to go to his house and lay his hands on his daughter so that she would be healed. And sometimes, we also make the mistake of having a “recipe” for the Lord Jesus“. This is my request, that’s what I want the Lord to do, this way here, A specific request, the way we want it. As if we were God. See that Jesus did not follow Jairus’ recipe, despite his urgency. Jesus still stopped to help another woman. And Jairus, remained there, afflicted. “Does He not understand how urgent my daughter’s situation is?”

So, some came to Jairus and said that his daughter was dead. But Jesus said, “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Mark 5:36). “Don’t be afraid” it is a feeling. In other words: “don’t surrender to the feeling now”. And he went to Jairus’ house. Jesus didn’t say what he was going to do. He just said, “Don’t worry, just come with me.” You can imagine the emotions of a father who receives the news that his daughter is dead. You can imagine the emotional state, the racing heart of that father. But despite feeling all of that, he followed the Lord Jesus.

In other words, it was for Jairus to say: “Jesus, it took too long. It’s too late. The Lord did not understand the urgency. The Lord can continue to serve people, and I will go home to bury my daughter.” If Jairus had given himself to emotions, he would have given such an answer. But instead, he restrained his feelings and followed the Lord Jesus. And in Jairus’ house, Jesus did the miracle.

Faith is not feelings; it’s not religiousness. Faith is obedience. Jairus continued to believe even with everything he felt, saw and heard. And because he kept believing, he saw his resurrected daughter. Faith is what you do concerning the Word of God.

What have you been doing about what God has said to you?

Check out the full message in the video above and think about it.