FAITH: My Extended Definition

joshschorle:

 Think of a toddler jumping off a diving board for the first time ever. The mom is waiting to catch him, holding out her arms, saying “Don’t worry! I’ll catch you!” But the child must trust in his parent. He must believe his mother won’t let him drown. He hesitates. He wiggles. Finally, he takes that leap of faith.

The concept of faith is different for everyone. For me, it is a trust and belief in God. It is knowing God died on the cross for my past sins and all my future sins. It is knowing that He will always be by my side during my times of struggle. It is knowing He will still love and care for me no matter how much of a screw-up I am.

Faith, in this sense, isn’t meant to be kept to oneself. It is meant to be shared. But it’s in those moments (especially in school) when I could share my faith that it suddenly becomes hard to have faith. I immediately start to think “How will they react? How will they respond? How drastically will their ideas about me change?” This same scenario is just as hard outside of school because it requires me to start a conversation with a stranger and ease into the question that isn’t easily accepted, and it’s usually along the lines of “Do you believe in God?” or “Where will you go when you die?”

There are times when I’ve felt lacking in faith. A time I specifically remember was when I was overwhelmed with the pressure to do well in Fine Arts Faire (being ranked on how well I played my piano pieces). I also had a high school musical to perform in later that day, and homework to finish as well. While I was picking out some nice clothes to wear for my performance, I was listening to a song called “If We’ve Ever Needed You” by Casting Crowns. Given the amount of stress I was under, the following lyrics spoke out to me: “If we’ve ever needed You, Lord, it’s now, Lord, it’s now. We are desperate for Your hand, we’re reachin’ out, we’re reachin’ out.” In that moment, I realized that I needed to pray and have faith in God that he would help me get through the day.  

In life, we learn from our past mistakes. The same applies to growing in faith. I continue to grow in my faith from both positive and negative experiences. I learn to improve upon negative situations and “keep doing what I’m doing” with the positive ones. I’ve learned to recognize when I need to “let go and let God” take control of a situation instead of always doing things with my own power. When I reach my “breaking” point, I’ve learned (most of the time) to just pray about it and pray that God will help me push through the barriers of the day.  

Living Unchanged

Before I begin talking about anything, you’ll first need to read the following from Colossians 3: 1- 17:

1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is yourlife, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.11Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I really want to focus my thoughts in relation to verses 5 through 10. 
 
When we become Christians, we are supposed to rid ourselves of our old sinful ways and be more of an example of God. Occasionally, I’ll see some people I know who say that they’re Christians, but they are most certainly not living like one. You pass them in the hallways of high school and you briefly hear something about doing drugs or the sound of foul language escaping one’s mouth, it’s just saddening. I realize when we accept God as our savior, it doesn’t instantly make us 100% perfect, we are still sinners. But at least try to a better example of God to your unsaved friends. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, … let the message of Christ dwell among you richly … (v. 15 & 16)” 
 
It says in verses 9 & 10 that we are to remove our old selves and put on our new selves and live in a way that more represents God’s loving kindness in our lives. We are to “clothe (our)selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (v. 12)”
 
My final comment is this: It saddens me to see that these people who call themselves Christian, aren’t living like it and they are still living in their old ways.  We need to live in a way that is more … all for him!

Source: bible.us