Sunday Meditation
Blogging is light for now -- I'm out in scenic Western Washington right now, to test some stuff for work. I'm reading a series of long posts by one of my favorite "God-bloggers", Dr. Mark D. Roberts, an evangelical Presbyterian pastor in Irvine, CA. Anywho, I came across this gem of a passage that addresses something that I agree with strongly, even as I struggle with it in my own Christian walk (bold mine):
If you care at all about defending and living out your faith in Christ, you could do much worse than to spend a long time browsing his blog.
Notice that we live out the good news in concert with speaking about that good news. I have heard many Christians say something like this: “Oh, I’m not comfortable talking about my faith. I just try to live it out, so that people will see God in me.” These folk are absolutely right about the importance of living their faith. Jesus says we are the light of the world, people whose good deeds should shine out so others will praise God (Matt 5:14-16). But we are called to live our faith as a demonstration of our message, not as a replacement for delivering it. Enactment alone won’t communicate the good news of what God has done in Christ. If, for example, you are exceptionally kind at work, but never mention why, your colleagues will probably think you’re an exceptionally kind human being. Who gets the glory? You do, not God! Only by doing and telling will people be able to praise God for His work in you. It’s not enough simply to live with Christian values but never talk about the source of those values.
If you care at all about defending and living out your faith in Christ, you could do much worse than to spend a long time browsing his blog.
Labels: Christianity
posted by Benjamin at 5:25 PM
2 Comments:
Good meditation. This is a semi-serious comment: How about being an exceptionally nice person and wearing a small crucifix? Some people really are just plain shy about talking, unbidden, about their faith. And there is the question of balance. You don't want to come off as holier-than-thou, or a proselytizer to be avoided.
Fair enough, Marty -- he even covers that in the very next paragraph:
"Yet, we must also realize that we can talk too much about our faith, thus shutting the ears unbelievers. If, every time you do some act of kindness, you say "It isn't me, but Christ in me," after a while people will tune you out. Wisdom and discernment are needed if we are going to speak of the gospel in a way that helps people to listen."
As far as shyness of our faith goes, though, I think that this, like sin, is something we're called to overcome, not "learn to live with". Not that I'm anywhere close to doing so yet.
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