Is your faith practical?
Is your walk with Christ really based on a real life relationship? Is it truly something you apply and live out in your day to day?
For about a month now I’ve been mulling. I’ve been thinking long and hard about a comment a friend made on Facebook. This friend was seeking advice – practical advice – and she didn’t want to be thrown any Christian mumbo jumbo. Well, she didn’t say that exactly, but I’m pretty sure that’s what she meant. You see, my friend’s husband is fighting cancer, and she’s tired and hurt and undone in ways I cannot image. So she wanted to know what to do with pain. What’s she supposed to do with her brokenness right now?
This friend – she knows all the right things to say. She knows what Bible verses to cut out and apply like a bandage to the pains of her life. And she knows they’re true … but are they practical??
That’s what I can’t stop thinking about. Is our faith practical?
And my answer is … it has to be!
The Word of God wasn’t written as a feel good book, although that’s how many of us approach it. It was meant to be applied. In most ways literally but certainly practically. Applied. We can’t just read our Bibles, pick out a verse that fits our wound and call it good. We have to actually and practically do what it says!
Didn’t James have something to say about this? Oh yes …
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22
Have mercy, girls! If we can’t find a way to take God at His Word and do what He says, then why bother with faith at all. Our Bibles contain the Living Word of our Most Holy God, and the words written there are intended for us today! They are meant to be applied today.
I get that sometimes the problem is knowing how to apply the Word to our day to day, and I hope that this blog one place where we can learn to live and walk out the Word together. But other times I’m convinced that we’ve all just been lulled to sleep – we’ve grown accustomed to coasting in our spiritual lives … and it’s time to wake up!
Yes. This is all started with a Facebook post.
And now it’s time to get practical!!
Today’s challenge: The next time God speaks to you through His Word, make a plan to do what it says. Write down the date of when you are going to put His Word into action and obey. Just a simple committment and plan to act may be all that it takes for God to radically {and practically} change your life through the power of His Word.
This is good Carrie Really good…. your line :
"We can't just read our Bibles, pick out a verse that fits our wound and call it good. "
What ? I think thats what I have been looking for. I am looking for something to help me make sense of it all. I am looking to find some perfect one liner in the bible and I am going to go oh I get it , that makes sense, now everything is ok and there is no more pain , there is no more sad. I have this relationship with god and I am trying to figure it out, I don't know where he has been in the past and i can see him in the people all around me and I feel like I am totally missing something. Maybe its just I am looking for the wrong things. Hum… this is going to take some time to sink in
Sherri – there's nothing wrong with finding verses that apply to our situations. It's important to find the ways God is speaking to us about our particular circumstance. The problem, I think, is assuming that just because we have a verse that applies to us that all the work is done. Example: Every time you have a worry, you can say "I know … cast your cares on the Lord because He cares for you." But the change doesn't happen – the healing doesn't happen – until we actually do what it says. Do we just claim "cast your cares" or do we get on our knees, pour our hearts out to God and trust that He is in control. Sometimes the Word can be applied like a healing balm – because knowing the Truth does set us free. But often we have to apply it in obedience too. Do you see what I mean??? You, my friend, are working out your faith step by step and I love watching you process it!