Believing I Can. Choosing I Will.

Have you ever asked someone if they can help you or do something and they respond by saying, “I can, but do you want me to?” I can almost hear a somewhat sassy tone as I type those words. I can also feel myself fighting the urge to roll my eyes.

The reason this came to my mind is recently someone told me they could do something, and I took that to mean they would. They ended up not following through, which made me question if I interpreted their response differently than they intended.

It’s interesting how the intention behind a word impacts the result. And it made me wonder if that same distinction shows up in our faith. It’s one thing to believe what God can do. It’s another to decide how we will respond to what we believe.

This is one of those truths that tends to get me. I know in my heart that God can and will do what He says. Walking in that belief can be a whole different story.

James 1:22 puts it pretty plainly, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” (NLT)

The chapter goes on to compare listening to God’s word, but not acting on it, to glancing in a mirror and forgetting what you look like.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at myself in the mirror, taken a breath, and told myself, “You’ve got this.” Then, almost as immediately as I turn away from my own reflection, I second-guess myself or the belief is gone. To be honest, it might not have been there in the first place.

It reminds me of Peter walking on the water. If you’re not familiar with the story you can find it in Matthew 14. In a nutshell, Peter believed Jesus could call him onto the water—so he climbed out of the boat. But once he was there, surrounded by all the wind and waves, continuing to walk in what he believed became a different matter.

There’s a difference between believing Jesus can hold you up and continuing to walk like you believe He will—especially when our own wind and waves get loud. Faith has a ‘can’ and a ‘will.’ We can believe that God is able, but faith eventually asks us to respond to what we believe.

What I mean is, I believe God can and will do what He says He’ll do. But there’s more to it. It’s accepting His invitation to trust Him enough to respond and then walking in faith. Every day. It’s not going to be a perfect or easy walk. There will be failures.

I think sometimes we need that reminder because in our everyday lives people can mean what they say and still fail to follow through. My friend did it. I’ve done it. You probably have too. Sometimes our ‘can’ never becomes a ‘will,’ and sadly, even with the best of intentions, our ‘will’ won’t always become a ‘did.’ But God isn’t like us. His character doesn’t change with His circumstances— or ours.

When God says He is faithful, He is.

When He says He will be with us, He is!

So, and I’m telling myself this too, it’s more than just believing all the things God can do and all the things we can do through Him. “Can” speaks to ability or possibility. “Will” involves intention, choice, surrender, and action.

God can give me peace.

I can forgive.

I can trust Him.

I can stop letting a particular fear control me.

I can obey what I know He’s asking me to do.

I can live differently because Jesus is changing me.

The much more uncomfortable question is: Will I?

I find on the days, or even just moments, when I choose to trust God—those days and moments feel much more peaceful. It’s not always easy. But it’s definitely worth it.

I want that for you, too. We might not always get it right. I still have momentary meltdowns. But, the beautiful thing is, we’re in it together and Jesus is in it with us.