Most religions require actions: pilgrimages, religious education, purity. Many teach that a peaceful afterlife is contingent upon one’s own success at living right.

But not Christianity. Our good works won’t open the doors of heaven. Instead, one simply needs faith.

Faith. That is God’s gift to us.

We can’t labor to impress Him. Our efforts at righteousness won’t earn us favor. He only asks that we believe.

If we really believe, then we can’t help but trust Him, fear Him, and love Him. He wants our heartfelt, “Not my will, but Yours, God.” Our invisible trust then will naturally manifest itself in actions, because life lives differently when faith is there.

Wind may be invisible, but set a giant turbine in front of it and you can see it’s there, driving those blades around, powering factories and homes, giving life to lifeless things.

Faith is like wind. You can’t see it till you put it to work. Put a problem in front of it, or a joy or a grief, and you can see faith’s fingers working, driving us to our knees, giving peace beyond understanding, inspiring words, prompting feet to move. Faith in Jesus empowers Christian lives. It lights up the world.