“To be loved! To be loved! Oh, what a feeling, to be loved!” — Prince Akeem, “Coming to America”
That’s one of my favorite lines from the movie. Prince Akeem was head over heels in love with a woman who didn’t even know he existed. Her very presence created the feeling of love in his heart. The irony — the love he was seeking in return didn’t come easily. Still, Akeem wasn’t deterred. He was persistent and, after a while, received what he was looking for — love.
How many of us know about the feeling of love? How many of us know that love is more than a feeling? It’s a verb. It’s faith in action.
Why faith in action? I venture to say because sometimes it takes the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen for us to love; to love beyond faults, mistakes and missteps; to love beyond the way we see a person in the present into the greatness of their future. Prince Akeem is a good example of faith in action. The intercontinental trip to Queens, New York, was made on his assumption of the type of people there, due to the city’s name. It was a move according to what he hoped for — love.
He didn’t just hope for love, he took action toward it, no matter how crazy those actions seemed to those closest to him. Sound familiar? If not, the examples below will hopefully ring a bell.
– Noah made an ark because of the impending rain that no one believed was coming … until it did.
– Abraham moved, without knowing where he was going … until he got there.
– Rizpah stood watch over the bodies of her sons and that of another woman to keep them from being preyed upon and so King David would give them proper burial.
– Mary believed God so much so, she risked her relationship with Joseph and her reputation in the community to physically carry the Savior.
– The woman with the issue of blood got on her hands and knees to receive a holistic healing.
– Peter called out doubt and called on courage, allowing himself to walk on water.
For some, these examples may seem antiquated. Yet my hope (all puns intended) is that they will cause us to wake up to see where we are, where we’re going and how we’re getting there. Are we operating in places of faith, or are we rolling with the punches of life in places of mere existence?
What is God calling you to do? What faith in action moves are you willing to make for your hopes to become reality? Relocate? Further your education? Switch careers? Get out of an unhealthy relationship? Get into a healthy relationship?
Faith in action means launching into the deep, like Jesus instructed Simon Peter to do in Luke 5. Simon was not immediately willing to do so, since he didn’t yield a return the night before. Yet, he made a faith in action kind of move when he launched into the deep. When he did, he found the nets to be so full of fish the boat could barely contain it all.
Which takes me back to Prince Akeem. He had clout in Zamunda, because he was royalty. However, when he came to Queens, he was just another person. That didn’t stop his faith in action. Regardless of who or what attempted to get in the way, he kept his faith and kept moving forward until what he hoped for became reality.
The end of the year is only two days away, but not it’s not too late to make moves. Whether they are money moves like Cardi B, or moves for love like Prince Akeem, there’s still time.
What are you going to do with it?
Rae Karim is an Indianapolis pastor who serves as chapel director at Christian Theological Seminary. She can be reached at rkarim@cts.edu.
