Is your faith practical? What? My faith, you may ask. Yes, your faith, your Christianity..... is it practical? What I mean is that does your faith in Jesus affect your daily life? Does it impact where you live and how you live? Does it affect how you respond to others and to situations of life?
This is a critical question. This IS the difference between Christianity and religion. Religion or religious works is our feeble attempt to do enough or be good enough to get to God. According to Ephesians 2:8-10 this weak, fleshly attempt to appease God NEVER works. But TRUE Christianity which is by grace through faith is a gift FROM God. It is not us working but HIM working! True Christian faith is God working for us (in salvation) and in us (after salvation). Thus the understanding that our faith MUST be practical. It must be lived out in our daily life. It has to reveal itself in shoe leather (how we live our daily life) or it is not real. See James 3...
Todays treasure is found in John chapter 4. We are observing a life lesson from our Lord Jesus. Read verses 1-42... I would like for us to examine just a few verses today....
So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water..... vs. 3-7a
The first principle we must grasp in MAKING OUR FAITH PRACTICAL is found in these few verses....do you see it?
1) Our Faith Must Engage Our Daily Walk... vs 3-7... Jesus was making his way from Judea to Galilee..on foot of course. The mapping of his journey was such that the shortest distance was to go straight through a region called Samaria. We will speak more on this at a later time but what I believe we must see is that where ever his feet led him was where his ministry was. It engaged his daily walk.
Is that true in your world? Does your faith in Jesus work in that world? Or do you have one of those one day a week religions? Here Jesus teaches us that where ever we go, whomever we meet is where we exercise our faith. Have you thought about that lately? Where you work is you mission field. Where you live is your mission field. Your family, your friends, your acquaintances and even those we come into contact with today are opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Each and every situation is a God given opportunity for us to exercise our faith.
This is easy to say when it all fits within our scheduling, our plans, our purposes and such but when it is not on todays schedule is where we often miss the boat. Don't you want to be on the adventure with Christ? We are His ambassadors, His children, His representatives and He allows our paths to cross the paths of many who are desperate for Him. We are the designated drivers in this vehicle of faith. Leading and pointing others to HIM.
How sad it is when we miss those opportunities. It even happens in churches before, during and after services....This past week I personally witnessed several of these opportunities. During our morning and evening services I personally witnessed people who were visible broken and crying during our services. What saddened me was to see so many Christians seemingly not even noticing the brokenness around them.
Where are those hearts of Christ? Where are those who turn with hearts of compassion and simply say "can I help?" Do you think for a moment Christ would neglect the hurting around Him? I think not!
What kind of excuse could we ever offer to those hurting around us, or even to HIM who has given HIS life for us? Well, I am too busy to have time to help. I don't know what to say? Or perhaps, it is the pastor's job not mine? I've got to go and eat before the restaurant gets full? Do you think any of these will stand before the Great Judgement Bar of God? I think Not!
I am glad to say that there were some who caught up with the hurting and I was blessed to see some powerful movings of the Lord as a result. Just realizing that our faith MUST be a practical faith that engages our daily walk is the first step to joining Christ in the Great Work of God.
So, what changes do we need to make. Let's start by being observant to the needs of others. Asking God what and how we can get involved. Let's get off of our proverbial cushions and touch the world through Christ!
You'll be glad you did!
Blessings
Bruce
