Mark Shea, Words of Encouragement

Faith Enfleshed!

November 28th, 2008 by Mark Shea Print This Article Print This Article ·

Romans 10:9

If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Salvation is never just a thought or a mood.  It is inherently incarnational.  Just as Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man, so our faith must be enfleshed.  A faith that is merely “in your heart” is like an unconceived baby or a bubble without its skin of soap.  There’s no There there.  On the other hand, lips that confess without faith are the lips of Judas Iscariot, kissing Christ in betrayal.  But divine faith expressed in the flesh of our deeds (including the simple act of saying “I believe” with your lips) is a step we take toward participating in the divine nature (as 2 Peter 1:4 says we are to do).  Today, make a simple profession of faith in Jesus our Lord-—aloud.  It’s of such little steps that the journey to salvation is made.

Mark Shea is Senior Content Editor for Catholic Exchange and a weekly columnist for the National Catholic Register. You may visit his website at www.mark-shea.com check out his blog, Catholic and Enjoying It!, or purchase his books and tapes here.

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