Biblical Obedience and Belief are the Same Thing?

And to whom was Gaod speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest. Hebrews 3:18-19

Ok…this was a really interesting passage I ran into while I was studying rest. It essentially directly equates belief and obedience. I find this fascinating because of how different it is than the way we typically look at belief. Belief means almost the opposite of obedience; an implied inaction because you believe in the intangible. But that’s not how the Bible sees it.

There are a couple times we equate belief and action. For example, imagine being in a restaurant and someone telling you that the kitchen is on fire and everyone needs to leave. If you do / don’t believe him, you act. You either sit there and continue your meal or you walk out - we would never say that we didn’t obey the person. Why is it different with God things today? Why do obedience and belief seem to be divorced from each other?

I can think of some possibilities: 

We are too heady and theological with our faith. When you leave a Bible study or service knowing the Greek word for spirit but not having a single actionable thing to do differently in your life, this will naturally lead to a divorce between belief and action. 

We are afraid of taking God at His word. I joke that the difference between belief and faith is people encourage you and bless you when you show belief; but people cringe and doubt when you show faith. You can talk all day about God being the provider and protector but when you give your food to the poor or take your kids to Africa where there is malaria, everyone starts getting really concerned. 

The American Church is focused more on emotions and relationships than action and impact. There’s a place for both, but I think the pendulum has swung way over on the introverted and emotional spectrum to the detriment of being Christ’s hands and feet.