Living the Faith You Profess!
Christianity is not difficulty; it is impossible! This is the assessment reached by many and repeatedly expressed by a few. Indeed, maturing followers of Christ quickly recognize that Christian faith is not a do-it-yourself religion, as many today imagine it to be, while others desire to make it so.
In reality, Christianity is a living faith which from beginning to end depends totally on God (cf. Philippians 1:6). Success in this faith is realized only when you recognize that “it is God that works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
A Christian disciple is a person always in transition, perpetually on the move, not merely in the fulfillment of duties but, more so, in the continual discarding of what is bad, while appropriating and practising what is divinely prescribed.
Christian faith and life is a pro-active, not a reactionary, experience. The only reactionary element in it is a daily “dying unto sin,” so as to “live unto righteousness.” It is not a faith modeled by human standards but by divine instruction and biblical examples.
Much of the difficulty faced by some in living it, comes when human preferences and personal expectations seek to replace or transcend what God alone has a right to impose. Your interactions with others may often affect your responses to God and frequently interfere with the level which your personal joy should sustain. And this can affect you either positively or negatively.
Obviously, one’s Christian walk never reflects a life of perfection, for “we know in part” (I Corinthians 13:9a). Only through persistence and struggle is one able to reach new heights of understanding and implementation of what God desires of His redeemed.
Faith is not palpable, but it can and must be demonstrated. The church is the classroom where faith is taught, and the world is the laboratory where such faith is tested and exercised. There are no instant Christians; you are being shaped and reshaped, moment by moment, into what God is making of you. And every child of God, beyond that initial step of commitment to Christ, requires a faith lift from time to time to maintain the vitality one is expected to exhibit.
Those personally aligned to the Christian faith remain unfinished products; Christ is still working in them. They are God’s project; they are people in construction! Thus, never think of faith as a mere first-aid, nor as something disposable after one-time use. It requires consistent advances throughout one’s earthly journey.
While many Christians may not totally flunk in the exercise of their faith, some still exhibit incompletes in several facets of Christian living. Just remember that there is no Chapter 11 in the spiritual life. If you recognize yourself as bankrupt in your faith, you are expected and empowered to overcome that condition. As a pastor recently brought to his congregation’s attention, “the greatest test of your faith is when there is no test of your faith.” Implement a periodical spiritual inventory in your faith and life!
February 25th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Amen, brother. So many people are disheartened by the desire for immediate perfection, which we are continually in the process of achieving. In my experience, it takes a looonnng time to strip away enough world and enough self to remember with regularity that our lives are a journey to being who we were created to be.