The other morning I was sitting outside, drinking coffee and enjoying the beautiful weather. I had my Bible open and was reading the day’s lesson in my study group’s current series, A Woman Who Doesn’t Quit: 5 Habits From the Book of Ruth by Nicki Koziarz.
Someone walking by stopped and looked from my books to me and said, “Oh. You are doing your spiritual part of your life.” After I replied, “Yes, I’m doing my Bible study lesson,” and he walked on, I kept thinking about his words.. doing .. your .. part of your life..
This person has known me for many years and has been a regular church attendee for as long as I have known him. His comment was not one that I would expect from a fellow Christian. Something just did not feel right about his awkward words and behavior.
Two questions kept running through my mind:
(1) Does my faith in God encompass my entire life and being or just “a part” of it?
As Christians, we are commanded to live out each day in a Christ-like manner, displaying the love of God in every facet of our lives. As I strive to meet this commandment, am I exuding the love of God in all my daily activities? Do I walk each day on the path God has laid for me?
(2) How can I encourage fellow Christians to seek a [more active] relationship with God?
Going to church does not equal having a relationship with God. I have many Facebook friends; however, I do not have a personal relationship with each person, only the ones that I engage with in community and fellowship. God desires more than Facebook friend status; He desires for us to be actively engaged in a personal relationship with Him. Yes, He wants a personal relationship with you, with me.. not just a select few of us, but everyone!
The following passage is from the letter written to the church at Phillipi. In it, the apostle Paul reminds the community of new believers that the goal they are striving towards is Jesus Christ, trusting Him and knowing Him in a personal relationship. Faith is strengthened within a community of believers working towards a common goal and encouraging each other along the way. Paul suggests that practice makes perfect, as he urges the church to imitate him in his walk of humble dependence on Christ.
“Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, all who are mature should think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.” -Philippians 3:12-21, HCSB
Let your faith infiltrate every part of your life. Let the perfect love of Christ absorb into every fiber of your being. Allow God to work through you and display His majesty in all that you do. Encourage one another to walk in faith at all times and to seek the leading of God. Set good examples for fellow Christians to follow, and mimic the Christ-like behaviors you see others displaying. We become what we practice.
elizabeth gwin 