When I was young I would hear the phrase, “they only give lip service”; perhaps you have heard it said too.   What it really means is that the person just talks about doing something and never follows through with completing it.  Or that they just have the words of faith but do not live the life of faith.  Service here could also be interchanged with stewardship.  What are we doing with what God has given us; that is the question.

The Bible tells us in James 2”17-18 that some say they have faith and others say they have works.  I don’t think that James discounted a person who says they have faith so much as he is merely stating the fact that our faith should be seen in what we do and how we live.  This doesn’t mean that we can’t or shouldn’t say that we have faith, but that our faith should have enough commitment to stir us to show our faith by the way we live.

If others can’t see our faith by our actions (life) in the way we walk in love, the words of kindness and encouragement to others etc, perhaps we should consider that we are only giving “lip service” to our faith in God.  If we have trouble doubting whether our prayers are heard and answered by God, we need to check our faith level.  The same is true if wavering in the face of attacks on our health.  Believing God’s Word takes faith and there can’t be any faith without hearing the Word of God.  (Romans 10:17)  There has to be a change in our lives in order for our faith to grow.  If only secular material is on our reading list then there will be no change in our faith in God’s Word because faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Another area to look at is if we are only joyful when everything is going well and then get discouraged or lose heart (faith) when things are not going so well, then we need to take another look at our relationship with God.  We must understand that the problem is never on God’s side of our relationship because HE IS FAITHFUL, so the problem stems from our side.  The only way to maintain a good relationship with God or anyone is to fellowship with them.  If we are not spending enough time in the presence of God and reading His Word our faith will not be strong to withstand the attacks of the enemy.  Galatians 6:9 instructs “to not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”.  I do believe that “doing good” also refers to keeping our faith strong.  Our faith and commitment are both strengthen from reading the Bible.

So I encourage you to change your heart by changing your routine in what you read and hear and thereby change your life from only giving lip service of being a child of God to having evidence of being a child of God by the way you live.