Whatever Is Not from Faith Is Sin — and That Changes Everything

I’m excited to keep building on what we started yesterday. We’ve been answering the question: why should you live by faith? And today I want to add a reason that might stop you in your tracks.

Not because it’s meant to condemn you — but because once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you can’t unsee it, you can start getting it right.

Pride doesn’t just look like arrogance — it looks like self-reliance.

We’ve already seen it in Habakkuk 2:4. The proud and the just who live by faith stand in direct contrast. Pride isn’t always loud. Sometimes it looks like quietly trusting your own track record, your own intellect, your own resources — instead of trusting God.

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve had to deal with arrogance and pride in my own life. I’ve made a decision to spend time at least once a month studying humility — because I need it. And here’s why it matters so much: Pride is the one thing that stops the grace of God from producing in your life. It literally shuts the door. That alone is reason enough to choose faith.

God can’t reward you if you won’t come to Him.

Hebrews 11:6 says without faith it is impossible to please God. And that verse trips people up — especially those who think salvation means God is pleased with you no matter what.

Let me be clear. God loves you completely. He will never stop loving you. But love and pleasure are not the same thing. My daughter sassed me recently. Did I stop loving her? Not for a second. Was I pleased? Not even close.

Colossians 1:9 has Paul praying that believers would walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him. If we were automatically fully pleasing the moment we got saved, why would Paul pray that? God wants to reward you — but He rewards those who diligently seek Him. When you draw back from faith, you remove yourself from the very thing that lets Him do what He loves to do.

Faith gives substance to what you’re hoping for — without it, hope is just wishing.

Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hope, biblically speaking, is positive expectation. But hope without faith is just wishful thinking.

Faith is what makes what you’re expecting actually show up.

There are plenty of people living in one without the other. Hoping but not walking in faith — so nothing materializes. Or walking in some form of faith but with no real expectation underneath it. Both leave you empty. You need the hope first — get into the Word and find out what God has said — and then release faith so it has something to give substance to.

Whatever is not from faith is sin — and this one stings.

Romans 14:23 doesn’t mince words: whatever is not from faith is sin.

Every time you worry — that’s not from faith. Every time fear drives your decisions instead of trust — that’s not from faith. And yes, that means it’s sin. I know that’s hard to look at. But we need to see it clearly before we can correct it.

Here’s a practical example. Tithing. You can tithe in sin. If the only reason you’re dropping that check in the offering is because someone scared you into it — “God’ll get His money one way or another” — there’s no faith in that. That’s a protection racket, not a relationship. But when you give because you believe you are blessed, because Jesus was made poor so you might be made rich, because you trust the God who loves you — that’s tithing from faith. That’s worship. That’s completely different.

Same thing with prayer. Repeating “In the name of Jesus” like an incantation while you’re shaking in fear is not the same as actually trusting the name that commands every knee to bow. If you’ve truly run to that name and found the strong tower — why are you still afraid?

God is your source — not the things He works through.

I believe in doctors. I take vitamins. I go to the doctor when I need to. But there’s a difference between using something and trusting in it.

Your confidence for your health must be in the stripes laid on Jesus’s back — not in your B12 shots, not in your financial advisor, not in your market research.

Use the tools. Thank God for the tools. But never let the tool become the source. I’ve told my antihistamines straight up: “You are not my healer. You’re helping me until the day I’m fully free — but you are not the source.”

Whatever you are trusting in more than God — your investments, your medicine, your connections — that’s where the line is. And wherever that line is, faith calls you back across it.

The good news? You can start crossing back today.

Fight To Win. Start today.