What does “Faith in Jesus” actually mean?

Simple question. We say we “believe” in Jesus. That we have “faith”.
Do we need to prove it to Jesus?

A quick example: You’re at someone’s home for a get together, and in the living room, the only unoccupied chair looks kind of rickety, but it’s there among the others. You assume that the host wouldn’t have put a faulty chair out, so you “believe” that the chair is ok to sit in. But the only way to prove your belief is to actually sit in it. You have “Faith” in it, but can only show that Faith by acting on it.
So let’s say that the chair is the Word of Jesus. His commands. His example. So we say we believe, we say we have faith in Jesus. But if we don’t do what He asks of us, are we truly believers or just paying lip service?

Full disclosure: Father Rick Simon has a daily hour long radio show, and among his many talents are languages, fluent in Greek and Latin (as he said, he spent 25 years teaching a dead language to comatose seminarians), excellent knowledge of Scripture, both in English and the original Greek, and a wonderful sense of humor. So when a caller posed the age old question of the relationship between Faith and Works, Father Simon used a similar analogy which made perfect sense. That’s why I’ve repeated it here.
How can we say we are Christian and expect the benefits of eternal Salvation if we don’t actually live up to what Jesus said we must do? Scripture says you can’t achieve Salvation by works alone, and that is certainly true of anyone who knows of the true God of Abraham. But saying that you believe in Jesus as an abstract historical fact simply cannot be the automatic admission ticket to Heaven. God sent His Son as the key to re-open the gates of Salvation for us. Gates which had been closed since the Fall. And Jesus spent His entire Ministry teaching a brand new, previously unheard of paradigm of how we are to live our lives. Emphasizing humility, care for the poor and downtrodden, love and prayer for our enemies , submission to authority, etc. His actions mirrored what He preached. His biggest beef was with those who knew Scripture and the Law, but failed to personally live up to them. In other words, failure to practice what you preach. Operative term, “practice”.

So those who cling to the notion that you only need to say “I believe” to find your way to Heaven, yet ignore the real teaching and commands of Jesus of how we should actually live our lives here on earth are missing the biggest component of Jesus’ message. The one that proves to Jesus that we actually walk His walk.

Any discussion?

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What does “Faith in Jesus” actually mean?