Without obedience, faith toward God is dead and worthless. Anyone who claims the law is no longer necessary has not yet made contact with the true God and lacks a basis for genuine faith toward Him. True, living faith is expressed through daily actions, walking in the footsteps of the apostles and Jesus Christ, leading to baptism and receiving the earnest of His Spirit toward salvation. However, initial faith toward God must grow from a tender trust into full-blown conviction, developing the absolute trust required to submit our lives to our Sovereign and Provider without question or wavering. Christ questions whether even the elect will possess this mature faith, indicating the need to expand beyond early zeal. Paul admonishes us to recall our calling and initial faith, remembering the early trials that remind us God fulfills His promises, and to live by faith without drawing back from our course. Mature, living, unwavering faith, as seen in the examples of Hebrews 11, is what Christ seeks in His elect—faith that remains steadfast when everything is on the line, allowing us to please Him and inherit the Kingdom of God.

Jesus, in Luke 18:8, poses a profound question about faith, asking whether, when the Son of Man comes, He will find faith on the earth. The implication is that very few may possess the strength of faith He seeks. This faith is not merely a powerful individual belief to perform miracles, but a complete trust in Him as God, living according to His revealed truth despite worldly pressures. It is a faith that requires living by every word of God, as Jesus Himself declared in Luke 4:4, emphasizing a life of obedience to His instructions. This faith, as highlighted in James 2:17, 20, 26, is dead without works. These works are defined as putting into practice God's instructions, reflecting a striving to live as He lives. Without such obedient actions, faith remains static and idle. True faith, in contrast, galvanizes into a conviction that produces righteous works, ultimately bearing fruit that glorifies God the Father. It is this living faith—a commitment to the entire righteous, holy way of life that God reveals—that Jesus seeks, a faith that endures the tests of a sinful, corrupt society and remains steadfast on the narrow path He has set before us.