Believing and doing

At Baptism when people become members of the Christian Church, they are required to affirm that they believe the Christian Faith.  Adults do this for themselves; godparents and parents do it on behalf of babies.  So all Christian people are expected to believe the teachings of Christianity.  It would sound very odd if someone said “I’m a Christian, but I don’t believe what Christianity teaches”.  However, you will still find many people who say “It doesn’t matter what you believe, it’s what you do that counts”.  This is nonsense because what you do depends on what you believe.  For example, if people believe that it is a good thing to steal, they will take anything they can lay their hands on whenever they get the chance.  They will go on stealing until they change their beliefs about it.

In the same way, if you believe that God doesn’t mind whether you lead a good or a bad life, then very probably you won’t mind either.  But when you believe that God made you for his very own, loves you more than you can possibly imagine, and wants you to be pure and holy like himself so that you can live happily with him for ever when you die – when you believe that, then you will try and lead a good, Christian life.