Today’s Readings: Psalm 34; Exodus 18:13-27; Luke 16:10-18; Romans 14:19-23; Psalm 119:49-72
There are a whole lot of things that many people consider to be mysteries of our faith that I’ve come to terms with a long time ago: things like the nature of Jesus, the question of theodicy (“Why do bad things happen to good people?”), and what the notion of the Trinity means. Maybe resolution to these things comes easier to me since I’m not smart enough to complicate them. Whatever the case, I know that many people wrestle to come to an understanding of what’s most important in our spiritual lives: faith or works. Those who are advocates of faith being most important point toward Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves…”; those who argue for works is most important would point to scripture like James 2:20 that says, “Faith without works is dead…” This whole “faith vs. works” debate has been raging for centuries. For me the answer is clear: it’s both. If you have genuine faith, works flow naturally from that faith – works aren’t things you do in order to get faith. If you think about it, it’s kind of like falling in love with someone. When you truly fall in love with someone, you naturally do things for the other person like buy them flowers, take them to dinner, and spend time with them. You don’t buy them flowers, take them to dinner, and spend time with them in order to fall in love with them. Today’s passage from Romans addresses the issue of how our faith informs our behavior from a slightly different angle. I especially love Eugene’s Peterson’s paraphrasing of the passage because it makes Paul’s point so clear. “You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe… then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong” (Romans 14:22-23 from The Message). Paul’s words provide us a wonderful opportunity to stop and examine ourselves. In light of this, I have a provocative exercise for you to do today. Instead of starting by asking yourself, “What do I believe?” and then examining your behaviors in relation to your stated beliefs; I would invite you to start by examining your behaviors (how you use your time, where you spend your money, with whom you spend your time) and then see what those behaviors suggest about your faith/beliefs? You might be surprised at the results of the exercise. Til next time…
There are a whole lot of things that many people consider to be mysteries of our faith that I’ve come to terms with a long time ago: things like the nature of Jesus, the question of theodicy (“Why do bad things happen to good people?”), and what the notion of the Trinity means. Maybe resolution to these things comes easier to me since I’m not smart enough to complicate them. Whatever the case, I know that many people wrestle to come to an understanding of what’s most important in our spiritual lives: faith or works. Those who are advocates of faith being most important point toward Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves…”; those who argue for works is most important would point to scripture like James 2:20 that says, “Faith without works is dead…” This whole “faith vs. works” debate has been raging for centuries. For me the answer is clear: it’s both. If you have genuine faith, works flow naturally from that faith – works aren’t things you do in order to get faith. If you think about it, it’s kind of like falling in love with someone. When you truly fall in love with someone, you naturally do things for the other person like buy them flowers, take them to dinner, and spend time with them. You don’t buy them flowers, take them to dinner, and spend time with them in order to fall in love with them. Today’s passage from Romans addresses the issue of how our faith informs our behavior from a slightly different angle. I especially love Eugene’s Peterson’s paraphrasing of the passage because it makes Paul’s point so clear. “You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe… then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong” (Romans 14:22-23 from The Message). Paul’s words provide us a wonderful opportunity to stop and examine ourselves. In light of this, I have a provocative exercise for you to do today. Instead of starting by asking yourself, “What do I believe?” and then examining your behaviors in relation to your stated beliefs; I would invite you to start by examining your behaviors (how you use your time, where you spend your money, with whom you spend your time) and then see what those behaviors suggest about your faith/beliefs? You might be surprised at the results of the exercise. Til next time…
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