In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were in prison. Instead of bemoaning their fate they were praying and singing to God! 

The jailer was captivated, not only by their words but by their behaviour (see verses 25 to 30).

He wanted to know what to do to be saved. They told him about believing in the Lord Jesus and then instructed him. This is what happened next: 

“the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household” (verses 33 and 34).

Notice how the jailer was a changed person. He didn’t simply agree mentally with some doctrinal idea and then live as if nothing was different. He washed their wounds; he and his family were baptized; he brought Paul and Silas into his house and made a meal; he rejoiced!

John Chrysostom wrote: “He washed and was washed; he washed them from their stripes [from their previous beating], and was himself washed from his sins.”*

If you say you believe in Jesus but aren’t somehow changed, you don’t really believe in Jesus.

I’m not saying you’re perfect, or that you don’t sometimes stumble backwards. I’m saying that, with God’s help, genuine beliefs always have hands and feet.

How is your faith changing you? And how is that change blessing the people around you?

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Notes:

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.

–*Homilies on Acts 36.2.