When you read through the gospels, there is little doubt that, as disciples, we have been called to share our faith—especially with those who have yet to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ! But, whereas most things in life are “easier said than done,” faith strikes me as being just the opposite. For many of us, it is far easier to put our faith into action … than to put it into words.
Granted, we may be comfortable speaking about God in church, but what about when we are not? Should we allow our faith to find a voice when tensions begin to rise at the office … or when a neighbor leans over the backyard fence for a chat … or at a PTA meeting discussing school policy?
Those are difficult questions to answer; and sometimes because we are unsure of how best to insert faith into our day-to-day conversations, we simply avoid the subject altogether. In fact, one of our best excuses for doing so is the perception that, before we open our mouths, we ought first to have our theology carefully worked out.
“I don’t want to speak of things that I don’t fully understand,” we’ll tell ourselves. “So, first, I’ll formulate my belief system … and then I’ll find just the right words to express those beliefs.”
The only problem is that I’m not sure faith works that way. We don’t just say things that we already believe. To the contrary, saying those things out loud is part of how we come to believe them in the first place.
Consider two people who are deeply in love. As they stroll along a moonlit path, whispering to one another, they are not merely expressing their love. To a large degree, they are discovering that love. Indeed, one might even say that they are creating it—simply by virtue of the fact that they are now proclaiming it!
By putting their love into words, they have given it a shape and definition that it did not possess when it was just a formless emotion surging wildly within their hearts.
I think faith works in much the same way. We don’t really know what we believe until we start saying it. The most effective Bible study groups, for example, are ones that allow for the free flow of honest conversation—even healthy debate—because it is through sharing our beliefs with one another that we come to understand them better ourselves … or as the great preacher John McClure once put it, “We are always talking ourselves into being more faithful Christians.”
Granted, we may be comfortable speaking about God in church, but what about when we are not? Should we allow our faith to find a voice when tensions begin to rise at the office … or when a neighbor leans over the backyard fence for a chat … or at a PTA meeting discussing school policy?
Those are difficult questions to answer; and sometimes because we are unsure of how best to insert faith into our day-to-day conversations, we simply avoid the subject altogether. In fact, one of our best excuses for doing so is the perception that, before we open our mouths, we ought first to have our theology carefully worked out.
“I don’t want to speak of things that I don’t fully understand,” we’ll tell ourselves. “So, first, I’ll formulate my belief system … and then I’ll find just the right words to express those beliefs.”
The only problem is that I’m not sure faith works that way. We don’t just say things that we already believe. To the contrary, saying those things out loud is part of how we come to believe them in the first place.
Consider two people who are deeply in love. As they stroll along a moonlit path, whispering to one another, they are not merely expressing their love. To a large degree, they are discovering that love. Indeed, one might even say that they are creating it—simply by virtue of the fact that they are now proclaiming it!
By putting their love into words, they have given it a shape and definition that it did not possess when it was just a formless emotion surging wildly within their hearts.
I think faith works in much the same way. We don’t really know what we believe until we start saying it. The most effective Bible study groups, for example, are ones that allow for the free flow of honest conversation—even healthy debate—because it is through sharing our beliefs with one another that we come to understand them better ourselves … or as the great preacher John McClure once put it, “We are always talking ourselves into being more faithful Christians.”
posted by Dr. Robert Crilley at
7:54 PM
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