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Many folks believe God cares about people. But what part of people does he care about? When God puts your grade on the report card, what has he graded? If God is concerned about us at all, does He care more about who we are or what we do?

Several weeks ago a student (we'll call him "Jay") wrote me and said, "Christianity is about 'FAITH,' so is the Bible hard evidence of GOD and if it is then where is the 'Faith' in something that is proven by the Bible? . . . I MYSELF AM GOING TO HAVE TROUBLE DEALING WITH FAITH AND I'M FINDING IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ONE CAN BE SAVED ON FAITH ALONE."

So I asked students to respond to Jay and answer "What is God more concerned with . . . our "faith" (what we believe and who we are privately) or our "works" (what we do, how we act, and who we are publicaly)? What does God care more about, us doing the right things publicaly or being the right person privately?"
This is what you told "Jay" you were thinking about FAITH. . .


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God is far more concerned about faith than our actions. Faith will get us into heaven, our actions are just things we've done. I feel that the Bible is hard evidence, but like anything you'd learn in school, even though it is proven doesn't mean you just accept it. There are many hard core facts out there that you still need faith to believe in. The Bible tells us all about what Jesus did for us, but just because someone tells you it's a fact doesn't mean you're necessarily going to just accept it. It takes a lot of faith to give your whole life to something. Alex, age 15

Like it says in James, you must not only believe but have faith. Faith is what will get you into heaven, that's the true, nitty-gritty, good stuff right there! But without the works, how do you witness to others and bring more people to the Lord? It's hard to show people and tell people about God if you don't do things to glorify his name! You must have a balance of both, but Faith is more important! Morgan, age 16

I think that faith and works are both equally important. Faith without works may be dead and useless . . . but works without faith are dead and useless as well. You can do good works for your entire life and it still won't save you and get you into Heaven - you're just going through the motions. But at the same time, you can't become a faithful Christian and then say "Ok I'm saved . . . now I can sit on my butt." You have to get out in the world and tell other people what God's done for you and how they can have a relationship with Him. Faith and works go hand in hand. One without the other is always going to be lacking something important. Jessica, age 16

In response to what was said ...my input on it goes something like this: God wants you to and faith and believe in him and his son, then by having that faith you have opportunities to share our faith. So first just believe, second show it in our ways everyday! In James it talks bout this but he's talking about what your faith should have grow to become since the time you first had faith in Christ. Hopefully you can understand all that ..."its easy to hear but hard to obey." I pray that u have strength to follow in God's footsteps. Connie, age 15

God is love, therefore Jesus is love. When Jesus came to Earth to die for our sins, he did not preach laws, he did not come down from the mountains with the Ten Commandments, he laid one simple law here on earth. Love your neighbor as yourself. Well in today's high tech world, residents of earth are more neighbors today then ever before. Man is not perfect, the bible has been translated and scribed numerous times by man, therefore the Bible in its present form is not perfect. To get a perfect translation, you would have to go back to when the Bible was written, talk to each author and have a knowledge of the vernacular at the time. What I'm saying is that we are only sure of three things, God loves man, God sent Jesus to die for our sins, and God wants us to love our neighbors. I don't think God cares if you are Hindu, Muslim, Wiccan, or whatever, I think when we die the one test to determine whether we get into heaven, is whether we loved our neighbor as ourselves. Every religion on Earth praises loving each other, so the Lord got his message out and even society praises it. Those who love in any way shape or form are doing God's will. Derek

Its hard to believe in faith sometimes, but no one except Jesus was perfect. Everyone went through hard times yet they still kept faith and GOD helped them through it. The correct definition of faith according to Webster is "the belief and trust in and loyalty to God". GOD is the father that believes, trust, and is loyal to you and all you have to do is the same thing. Christine, age 15

I think that we all should pursue God both ways . . . in our private lives and in our public lives. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks, just as long as you are living through God always. Today during class I was thinkin', how AWESOME is God? I answered myself, God created this world, and everything on it so that he could share his Jesus love w/ everyone. That's just amazing how he cared enough to do that. He is so perfect, and definitely with us always. I couldn't love Him more than I already do. Brittny

You should have faith in God because as you read all the wonderful things in the Bible that will bring us if we follow him. The Bible is your guide to the world that God wants us to live. Bethany, age 13

In a study that I participated in at my church, we talked about how Faith and Action go hand in hand. When you have faith, you are compelled to do good works. When you have faith you hear God and long to do what he asks you to do. When you have faith that God is always there for you to protect you and see you through, you will take action- you have no reason not to! Where there is real faith there is action. So when God says you are saved by Faith there is no doubt about it because action is what becomes of pure faith. Emily, age 15

I believe that a person is measured by both who they are and what they do. However, I do believe that having faith is more important than what we do publicly; but what's the point of having faith if we keep it to ourselves? I think that it takes a little of both. But then again, God loves us in our entirety and therefore cares about everything we do in our entrity. It depends on the person if the want to be open or shut with public actions and/or open or shut with their faith. Jessica

What we do and who we are sorta one and the same. It's hard to explain, but I will try to make that definition a bit clearer. As a Christian, if you truly have faith, the action should come automatic. You see, you can have faith, and know you believe in God, but doing Christ-like actions is a part of faith. Sharing God with others is a part of faith. Of course, you can't do Christ-like actions if you don't believe in God. So faith is important too. Because if you do a lot of good deeds, and do not have faith I don't believe you are truly a Christian. You need a healthy combination of the two, Faith and Action. But I don't think God values one more than the other. That's just my opinion though. Griffin, age 15

I think that God is more concerned about our faith and how we act as people because you can't just go to church on Sunday then the rest of the week act horrible like cussing, calling people names and not following the commandments .... God would want people to love him and follow him and go by his word. Jenna, age 13

I think that God is looking more at the person inside. We can all at one time put on our ungodly faces and please the world, no matter what the case because we are all sinners. And God understands the whole peer pressure thing. He just wants us to be the ones to stick up. But God is the only one who knows our hearts and if they are not right with God, then nothing publicly that we do is for the right reasons. You cannot get into Heaven by going around preaching the Bible and then do sinful things in your own private time. God is watching you when others are not. Anna, age 16

I think that what we do IS part of who we are. If we are honestly good people privately, then we don't have to worry about doing the right things publicly-it will come naturally. As for God being proven in the Bible... I can read the bible and see where it would prove his existence, but someone else might interpret it differently. The faith part plays on to that. You gotta have faith in what you are interpreting to be true, because otherwise, why are you believing it in the first place? Janet, age 17

Yeah God does care. And the rest is something that is kind of hard to answer because God cares a lot that you have faith, and he also cares a lot that show your faith by your actions. If you have faith God wants you to show it because if you don't then how will people know you have faith? Yeah I guess you could tell them but why would they believe you? You got to show them. But on the other hand if you don't have faith but you act like you do by your actions then your actions don't mean a thing. The Lord has a plan for you and in order to achieve it you have to do your best, in school, in life, every day you have to show your faith but in order to do this you have to have faith. Ashley, age 13

I don't think it's about either one of those subjects alone. I believe that God wants you to be like him privately and publicly. He wants you to be able to pray to him, and talk to him privately, but he also wants you to spread the word and show publicly that you are a Christian. Like he wants you to be baptized publicly (confesse me in front of others, and I will confesse you in front of you father). So I don't think it's just one, I think it's a little bit of both. Matt

I also, at times, question which is more important to God, faith or deeds. Nonetheless, we can ultimately receive God's answer from Paul and James, who are saying the same thing while using different approaches. The provocative James says that, without deeds we have a dead, untrue faith. In other words, if we truly have a faithful relationship with Jesus, His light of love will shine through us - thus, performing public actions. Moreover, a true faith in Christ is also described in Paul's letter to the Galatians. He says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22) … which yields deeds. In a nutshell, a Christian lifestyle accurately proves the Holy Bible, which says that public action is a byproduct of faith - the gift we have to accept God's grace and love. Thomas, age 18

We are saved by faith and with that we will have eternal life but the works part comes in and I believe that the more good deeds you do on earth and the more you do to serve HIM the better your life will be in heaven. Just because someone is a Christian but is a couch potato and sits at home all the time doesn't mean they aren't saved. But God tells us that we store up treasures in heaven by what we do on the earth for Him. So the more we do and the more we go out and give our all for him I believe it's just going to make the already GREAT life we are going to have in heaven Better! Kalie

We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. We are saved by our belief that God lowered himself to the point of becoming one of us and that as one of us He gave up His life by going through more pain and more humiliation than any of us could dare imagine. We are saved because we believe that there is no greater love than that of God for our souls. When we have this kind of faith, questions of "Which is greater, faith or deeds?" should not matter to us. When we trust in the Lord, God alone and no other, then our deeds will match our faith. A deed can be anywhere from praying for a sick friend to leading God's people out of Egypt through a parted sea. Faith prompts deeds. Moses could only do what was required of him by God because of his faith in him. The words of Jesus are simple. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." God himself said that He was the ONLY way to eternal life. He never said, you must help an old lady across the street or there's no way you're getting into My paradise. We can be complete failures by the world's standards, but if we have faith in Jesus Christ alone, then I am certain we will have an eternal home in His love. When we get our report card from the Lord, He will throw out everything that we have done and grade us on our love for Him and our love for others which comes through faith, for He crafted everyone Himself. If we have faith in Him, then we love Him and we love His creations. This is a love that we can't help but to express through our deeds. Faith prompts deeds. Atheists can be great people, but if they don't love the Lord, then it is all in vain. Brian, age 17

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