What does walking by faith look like? Does it mean you you go to church, you read your Bible, you give to the church and to others, you get involved in church activities, you become a missionary, you pray without ceasing, and so on." Not that some or all of those things can't be a part of your own personal walk of faith.
But as I've read through the "faith" chapter of the Bible - Hebrews 11 - it's occurred to me that a life of faith is really far more deep and rich. There are really a lot of things that people have done "by faith" that really don't look "churchy" or "religious" at all. A man builds a huge ship in the middle of dry land. Another man moves his entire family to another country and lives as a stranger, camping in tents. An old, barren woman gives birth to a son. A prostitute receives spies and hides them. A baby is hidden by his parents. Kingdoms are subdued, righteousness is worked out, promises are obtained, lion's mouths are stopped, people are made strong out of weakness.
Others were tortured, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, etc... all because of their faith. I don't mean only that these things happened to these people because of their faith, but they walked into these things and willingly endured these things because of their faith.
All of these stories and so much more are packed into the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, describing what various people did "by faith." It's pretty amazing to me when I contrast all of this with the things that are expected today from Christians as acts of faith. Again, if you're involved in various sorts of "church activity," and you pray and you read your Bible and you give and you love it and know you're called to it, that's absolutely wonderful! My purpose here is to simply show how my own understanding of the life of faith has been greatly expanded far beyond "church life."
I realize that a few of the New Testament scriptures show what life in the early church was like. We can glean a lot of great stuff from all that. But if we limit our expressions of faith to "church life," I think we've missed the boat. Even in regards to the "gifts of the Spirit" --- Are God's gifts only for use in the context of a church meeting? And are the His gifts only limited to the ones Paul happens to mention? One helpful thing that I get out of Hebrews 11 is the idea that we're all different kinds of people and our expressions of faith are essentially limitless! Read through the chapter and note the diverse types of people and the diverse things they did "by faith." We have a great big God (a gross understatement). Doesn't He express Himself in and through us in so many ways beyond activity that seems religious and churchy? Can we open up our minds and hearts and ears and eyes and other senses and get a taste of what a real life of faith is? Isn't it really a great adventure?!
Grace Roots Blog
Showing posts with label church activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church activities. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Friday, October 17, 2008
Works - Part 4 of 4
I really think that our life in Christ is a life that doesn't look like what many Christians today see it as. For many, it's a life that revolves around "church." Many of the works that Christians are exhorted to do seem to be centered around church programs, ministries, outreaches, etc. Not that any of them are necessarily bad in and of themselves, but how often do Christians get wrapped up in those things and don't really live out the life of the person God has truly made them to be.
I personally had the guilt laid on me (perhaps mostly self-inflicted) because I quit working all the works I was expected to work in "the church," including but not limited to joining in on all the church activities and outreaches. None of them seemed to be appealing to my heart, and I felt guilty because I felt as if I was neglecting the "doing" of some very good things, including things that many people felt "needed" to be done. But I had come to the conclusion that all I was really doing was going through the motions with a lot of the stuff. The good news was that, since I'd come to have a strong foundation of who I am in Christ, I had an understanding within myself that I actually was a "doer" in so many other ways that simply didn't have the appearance of "church activity," but were really a result of walking in who I am in Christ. I've all too often found that what I'm called to do isn't what everyone else expects of me! It's been a struggle to truly discover that, but I think I'm finally free in that respect.
The "instructions" I had received implied that the work I needed to be involved in centered around Church Activity A, B and C, and then I was to sacrifice myself some more and also be involved in Activities D, E and F as well! But I discovered that God has many different "members" in Christ's body. We are all unique, and we walk in the works that God created for us to walk in, individually and as a body. Sometimes those works may indeed be "church activities," but so much of life is lived apart from the assembling of the saints - far away from whatever building we may have met in - and we walk as who we are wherever we are!
Look at the good works (the works of faith) that the saints mentioned in Hebrews 11 walked in. How much of it was forced or contrived? How much of it was "church work?" How much of it was based upon biblical instructions??? Heck, look at the work Paul and the apostles did! Look at what the people of the early church did. They didn't have "New Testament instructions" to follow. Wasn't it as simple as walking in the new life they'd been given, and encouraging one another and spurring one another on toward love and good deeds? There's plenty of room for instructing and correcting one another, but is that really the basis of the Christian life?
I personally had the guilt laid on me (perhaps mostly self-inflicted) because I quit working all the works I was expected to work in "the church," including but not limited to joining in on all the church activities and outreaches. None of them seemed to be appealing to my heart, and I felt guilty because I felt as if I was neglecting the "doing" of some very good things, including things that many people felt "needed" to be done. But I had come to the conclusion that all I was really doing was going through the motions with a lot of the stuff. The good news was that, since I'd come to have a strong foundation of who I am in Christ, I had an understanding within myself that I actually was a "doer" in so many other ways that simply didn't have the appearance of "church activity," but were really a result of walking in who I am in Christ. I've all too often found that what I'm called to do isn't what everyone else expects of me! It's been a struggle to truly discover that, but I think I'm finally free in that respect.
The "instructions" I had received implied that the work I needed to be involved in centered around Church Activity A, B and C, and then I was to sacrifice myself some more and also be involved in Activities D, E and F as well! But I discovered that God has many different "members" in Christ's body. We are all unique, and we walk in the works that God created for us to walk in, individually and as a body. Sometimes those works may indeed be "church activities," but so much of life is lived apart from the assembling of the saints - far away from whatever building we may have met in - and we walk as who we are wherever we are!
Look at the good works (the works of faith) that the saints mentioned in Hebrews 11 walked in. How much of it was forced or contrived? How much of it was "church work?" How much of it was based upon biblical instructions??? Heck, look at the work Paul and the apostles did! Look at what the people of the early church did. They didn't have "New Testament instructions" to follow. Wasn't it as simple as walking in the new life they'd been given, and encouraging one another and spurring one another on toward love and good deeds? There's plenty of room for instructing and correcting one another, but is that really the basis of the Christian life?
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