Faith

I have come to discover the deep emphasis placed by our creator on symbolism. It is not enough merely to know or believe something, we are expected to symbolize our belief with action. Are we followers of Christ? Then we are expected to openly declare our Faith in Him. Do we believe He is the Way, Truth and the Life? Then we are required to follow in His footsteps and teachings. We need to act out our convictions by telling people at every opportunity of His role in our lives! Faith without works, James 2:17 says, is dead.
God places so much emphasis on physically demonstrating our convictions that Jesus said "whoever denies me before men, will I deny before my Father in heaven".
God himself symbolized his overwhelming love for mankind by sending His only Son to die as a sacrifice for sin.
We as believers are enjoined to exercise our faith like a muscle so it gets stronger. Just holding on to Faith without exercising it is futile. Just like owning a car without driving it could be dangerous. You can never really tell (or really trust) its behavior under critical circumstances until you fully understand how it works! That can only happen by constantly and consistently putting our faith to work!