It's really an interesting question. One that I never asked myself really before this last week. I was given the opportunity to teach a bible study on the passage James 2. James 2 has a relatively famous passage in it that says rather bluntly "faith without deeds is dead" (2:17, 20). In the process of teaching this passage, I asked the question "What do you do to make people know that you're a Christian?" This question seemed relatively straightforward and somewhat easy to answer. The answers I got were rather interesting. I got such answers as "I don't curse", "I don't have sex", "I don't drink or do drugs", or " I don't gossip with my friends". Don't get me wrong, all of these things are good and are very important while being a Christian. However, that's not what this passage was getting at.
If you think of pretty much any character in the Bible and why they were known in their time, about 99% of the time it's because of what they did. Not because of what they didn't do. This is what James was talking about when he wrote this Chapter of his letter to the new church. He knew that they would stand out already because of what they didn't do. He knew that there would be temptation to be complacent at where they are by just not doing stuff.
In high school, this is what I let define me and who I was as a person. I was the one "that didn't drink" or that "didn't cuss". This has been something that I've been living by until this last year. I've realized that reading the Bible and learning about God is a huge part in your relationship with Christ. However, if you don't take everything that you're learning in your life and apply it to your life somehow then what's the point? James went as far as to say that you're wasting your time if you're doing that. Hmm... convicting, isn't it?
So what does this have to do with my summer? For one, I'm learning a TON about God and about the plans that He has for my future. This next year, God's entrusting me with a much larger flock than he has in previous years. This means that a lot more people are going to be looking to me to model what a relationship with Christ looks like. James 2:17 is one of the main things that I'm going to have to keep in mind while doing this so that everyone I'm being a witness to doesn't just think that being a Christian is a list of things that you shouldn't do but it's something that you need to be active in and something to strive after.
When Jesus was on this earth, he didn't just not do things. He acted upon every opportunity that he had in his years on this broken planet. He cared for the tax collectors, he loved the prostitutes, he fed the hungry, he humbled the proud, and he healed the sick. The name Christian literally means "to be like Christ." The people in Jesus' time knew him by what he did, not by what he didn't do. So let's be like him. Let us act on the faith that we have in God in every situation possible. Whether that be talking to the person next to you in line while waiting for lunch about their day or being able to pack up and move if that's what you believe His will is. In Paul's letter to the Hebrews he defines faith as "being sure of what we hope and being certain of what we do not see." We need to take actions out of faith whether or not we know what is going to happen. If we don't, it shows our uncertainty in God. If we're uncertain about God, then we have no faith.
Dear Donnie,
ReplyDeleteI spent some time this morning reading through your blog. After spending three weeks working with you, it was a great reminder of some of the things you shared with me that you learned.
Sunday at Willow Creek we took communion and the pastor talked about why we have hope. We do not have hope for the future because it is the future, but rather we have hope in the future because of the past. Your blog posts have given me great hope in how God is going to use you this year.
I encourage you to change the name of your blog and continue to update your readers on how God is using you. I challenge you to do this for three reasons (A) Continue to communicate to those who supported you financially and through prayers that the changes you made this summer are sticking and how you are allowing God to use those things (B) for yourself... let God use these posts to give you hope for what he is going in the future (C) rather selfishly, I'd love to continue to read about the work that God is doing through you up north :)
I'm praying for you as you finish up RA training and the guys move onto your hall.