How Do You Know If You Have Faith?
- Jun 9
- 5 min read
How Do You Know If You Have Faith?
As we said in the last post, there's a difference between intellectually believing something is true and actually having a personal, lived faith. I might believe in God, but that doesn't automatically make me a faithful Christian. Technically speaking, even the devil believes in God. So the Catholic Church teaches that faith is more than just saying "I believe in God" or "I believe in Jesus."
The Catechism gives us four practical attributes of true faith. So let's go through them.
Faith Has to Be Free
I cannot be coerced or forced into true belief.
You might have run into this if you've ever tried to share your faith with someone -- a friend, a family member, someone at a dinner party. You make a good case. You're clear, you're thoughtful, you give them everything they need to know. And at the end of it all they say, "Yeah, I mean, that all makes sense, but I just don't buy it. I don't believe it."
And you kind of want to grab that person by the shoulders and go, "But I gave you all the reasons! You've admitted to me that it makes sense, so why don't you just believe?"
Here's the thing: faith has to be freely chosen. If it's not a free yes, it's not true faith. You can't coerce someone into it. And even if you could, that faith would eventually collapse, because it was never really theirs to begin with.
The same thing is true for each of us. If I'm going to church every Sunday only because it's what my parents expect of me, and if they stopped checking, I probably wouldn't go, then maybe that's a sign my faith isn't really free. Or if there's something in Catholic doctrine I've technically accepted because I feel like I have to, but it doesn't really sit right with me and I've never actually asked the questions, that's not a great place to be either.
But the answer to that isn't to walk away from faith altogether. It's to go and actually seek answers. Talk to a priest. Read a good book. Look at what the Catechism says. If God is truth itself, then honest questions are not a threat to the truth. My questions will lead me toward it, not away from it. I should never be afraid to ask them.
Faith Leads to Action
Some Christians believe that all we need to do is say "I believe in Jesus, I accept him as my Lord and Saviour". If we profess it with our mouths, and believe it in our hearts, then we are saved. Our actions don't matter, so long as we believe.
But let's follow that idea and see where it leads.
When I was a kid, I got the idea into my head that I could fly. When no one was looking, I'd climb up on the couch and jump off, convinced that if I just tried hard enough, maybe I'd pull it off. And as I got older I realised... I really can't fly.
Now, what if I told you today, "yeah, I know I can't fly, I genuinely believe that I cannot fly", and then you found out I was still secretly going home and jumping off my bed every evening trying to do it? Would you believe my words or my actions?
This is the thing: real belief shows up in how you live. You cannot hold a genuine belief in your head and consistently act against it. That's not belief, it's just empty words.
John 13:35: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
A true Christian doesn't just believe in Jesus. They live that faith in how they love the people around them.
That doesn't mean that they have to be perfect people or to live Charity flawlessly. But it does mean that they should be actively trying to live in a manner that is compatible with the Gospel.
Incidentally, this is actually why Catholics believe a person can technically live the virtue of faith even if they've never heard the name of Jesus or encountered Christianity. Maybe God has reached out and touched their heart, and they've accepted that, and they're genuinely trying to live in accordance with his law. That person may be living faith even if they can't put words to it. It's obviously harder without the structure of the Church, but it's not impossible.
Faith Overflows
If I really, truly believe that something is going to bring me eternal happiness, it's natural that I'll want to share that belief with other people. That's just the overflow of genuine conviction.
Now, that doesn't necessarily mean cornering strangers in swimming pool change rooms and announcing that you'd like to talk to them about Jesus. Some people can do that and good on them. We actually know a little girl in my family who has become something of a family legend. She went up to her uncle at Christmas while he was trying to eat his lunch and said, "Excuse me, why don't you go to church on Sundays?" He tried to come up with excuses, but she stopped him and said, "But Jesus died to save your sins." And he went, "I know, okay, I read the paper."
We're probably not all going to accost a family member at Christmas lunch like that. But there's something genuinely lovely about that childlike simplicity. Sometimes we get so caught up in what other people will think if we share our faith with them, but we shouldn't be afraid to share the things we believe in with others.
And sharing your faith doesn't always mean talking about it. It can start with smiling at a stranger, helping someone with their bags, showing up for a friend when they need you. Faith should bleed into your everyday encounters, your relationships, those ordinary moments. It can't help itself.
If I look honestly at myself and find that my faith is sealed off in a box -- it comes out on Sunday for Mass and goes back in the box for the rest of the week -- that's probably a sign I need to pray for more faith. Because genuine faith doesn't stay in the box. It reaches outward.
Faith Isn't Static
Faith can increase, and it can also decrease, or even be lost.
It would be easy to think: once I have faith, I can relax. I've accepted Jesus, I can rest easy now. But the Catholic Church teaches that faith is not a one-time thing. It's a gift we have to keep asking for. We can't get complacent.
Anyone who's had a big conversion, or even just one of those small conversions that happen throughout our lives, knows how quickly that fire can fade. Sometimes in a single day. There are days when I finish my morning prayer and I'm like, I am basically a saint, I am so close to God right now. And then by the end of the day I'm like, I am literally the worst person alive and I have lost all the zeal that I had in the morning.
Our faith is dynamic. We can lose it if we don't keep the fire going. So we have to keep asking God for more faith, every day. We can say the prayer, "Lord, increase my faith". The more faith we have, the easier it is to stay close to him.
So those are the four signs of true faith: it is free, it leads to action, it overflows into the world, and it can grow or fade.
So we've talked about what faith is, but the next question is, faith in what? In the next few posts, we'll start unpacking some of the arguments for the existence of God.
This is part of an ongoing series on Catholic teaching. Start at the beginning: What Is Faith, Actually?
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