Our faith in Jesus Christ and our love for Him shows how much we love God.
Let me illustrate. Let’s say that you tell me that you love me and that you care about me. But one day, my car won’t start, and I’ve got a really important appointment that I can’t miss. Now let’s suppose that I send my son over to your house to ask you if I can borrow your car so that I can get to that appointment.
But instead of giving the car to my son, you start yelling at him, asking him, “Who do you think you are asking to borrow my car. How do I know you can drive?" You tell him that you wouldn’t give him the crumbs off your table if he was starving. Then you tell him to get out of there. But you don’t stop there. As he’s leaving, you attack him from behind, and you beat him up and leave him laying in your yard bleeding.
Now, when I find out about that, what do you think I’m going to say the next time I see you and you tell me you love me?
I’d probably call you a liar, and for good reason. Your lack of faith in my son shows that you have no faith in me. Your lack of love for my son tells me you don’t really care for me. If you loved me, you’d love my son as well.
And so it is with God. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the starting point for everything relating to God. Faith that does not lead to love is meaningless. Love that is not based on faith in Jesus Christ is powerless.
You see, it’s not enough to just believe. What’s important is what you believe, or more importantly, who you believe in.
Faith in Jesus Christ is the starting point in our relationship with God, and true faith will lead to something else. True faith will lead us to obey God’s commands.