Faith is a Muscle
I used to be the person who declared I had faith because it was what I was supposed to do. Claiming faith was an integral part of my culture, and I learned from years of Sunday school to profess it every time I dealt with hardship or to lend it as advice when someone else was going through something. But what my culture and Sunday school teachings didn't stress was that faith was a muscle, and the only way for it to get stronger was to exercise it.
If I work my muscles out often, they will automatically get stronger. I will be able to lift things I couldn't lift before, my stamina will increase, and I'll feel more healthy and energized. But if I don't use my muscles at all, I'll lose them. It's the same with faith.
I can recite the "faith of mustard seed" scripture until I am blue in the face, but if I'm not exercising that faith, then I really have none. I wasn't aware of how faith truly worked until I just jumped out and totally depended on it. And when I didn't sink after jumping out there, I decided to do it again and again. And each time my faith muscle grew stronger.
I'm no longer throwing the word faith around or quoting faith scriptures because it's the appropriate thing to do, I'm out here living it, testing it, and seeing what it's worth. And while I'm still growing in the faith exercising aspect, I can tell you this - the workouts are coming in handy, and I haven't encountered a situation yet that my faith couldn't strong arm. And for this reason alone, I'm staying in the gym.
