ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 SAPATE SUNE 28, 2026

SAAME 106-107; HEPELU 11:1-6

The life of faith can be summarized with three words: confession, remembrance, and proclamation.

Ko e mo’ui ‘i he tui ‘e malava ke fakama’opo’opo ki he fo’i lea ‘e tolu: vete, fakamanatu mo e talaki.

I once spoke on the nature of true faith at a retreat, where I tested the attendees' understanding of this bedrock Christian life concept. As Romans 1:17 tells us, "The righteous shall live by faith." Faith is the oxygen of the Christian life; you can't be spiritually alive without it. Consequently, you must understand what true biblical faith is. So I asked the group to define faith for me. One person said, "It means you believe." So I said, "What does it mean to believe?" Someone in the back shouted out, "It means to trust." So I said, "What does it mean to trust?" And from somewhere the answer came: "It means to have faith." We had ended up where we had begun, without much further illumination. Scripture is clear that faith is something more than mental assent. It is more than agreeing to a theological creed. Faith is not just an exercise of the mind. It is a commitment of the heart that fundamentally changes the way you live your life.

Embedded in Psalm 106 is a helpful summary of what true faith looks like:

Both we and our fathers have sinned;

we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.

Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,

did not consider your wondrous works;

they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,

but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

Yet he saved them for his name's sake,

that he might make known his mighty power. (Ps. 106:6-8)

Three essential elements of a life of faith are laid out in these verses. Confession. Our sins have been forgiven, but they have not yet been completely eradicated. The Christian life, therefore, is a life of humble, heartfelt confession. The closer we walk with the Lord, the clearer our sin becomes. So, the life of faith demonstrates a daily commitment to confession. Remembrance. Faith involves fighting to remember the life-transforming magnitude of God's steadfast love. We resist the temptation to forget God, and instead strive for ever-increasing gratitude. Biblical faith replaces complaint with praise and demand with worship.

Glory. The life of faith acknowledges that we live in the midst of a glory war. We don't want to be glory thieves. We commit to live for a glory greater than our own. Faith finds joy in praising God's name and in making his mighty power known. In faith, we humbly acknowledge that God works for the sake of his own glory. 

Do you have regular habits of confession? Do you meditate on the gift of God's steadfast love? Do you live for his glory to be displayed? You don't have to deny the truth or wallow in shame. The Lord meets you in your weakness and failure with his forgiving and empowering grace. Faith is a gift from him. Reach out for that gift once more today.