Living Faith (3-min. read)

^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23

Whether you like it or not, the world judges Christians daily through their words and actions. Looking for discrepancies and failures in our ability and desire to love, the world stands ready to pounce when we deviate from the path we proclaim. Living with a biblical world view, rather than a worldly view, is key to having living faith.

Living with a Biblical World View

The world functions very differently than Christian believers with a biblical world view. Though we try to be good witnesses to God’s love in a chaotic, broken world, we sometimes miss the mark. This is not a perfect world, and no matter what your faith background is, your faith is manifested by how you live and love others, hence witness, each day. We live to serve and try to emulate our Living God, who is ever-present and loves all of humanity unconditionally.

Faith is not really about how often we go to church, though that is important to grow in faith. It is not about how much we put in the collection basket, or how many memorized prayers or rosaries we say. Instead, it is more about how we approach every challenge and situation we encounter with love. Love for God and others. Living faith equips us to get up each morning to do God’s will, despite whatever happens in our day.

Living faith often depends on us listening to our conscience and striving to do the right thing. Your conscience is that little voice or feeling inside that tells you right from wrong; that gut feeling that helps you choose good over evil. One way that God guides us to live out our faith in real life, in real time is by giving us a conscience. Conscience is what enables us to do the right thing –not just on Sundays when we fold our hands and go to up to receive communion, by embracing a Christian way of life day in, day out, all week long—not just when we feel like it or when others are looking.

Striving to Do the Right Thing

Living faith is about striving to do the right thing even when it is inconvenient, not easy to do, or we feel like it does not benefit us in some worldly way. It is all about integrity and what we do when we are faced with a tough decision. It helps us adhere to the Judeo-Christian faith that we profess to follow with consistency, as well as, the beliefs we hold dear.

When we hold a biblical world view, we are more prone to take a second look at what real life brings us, act in love, and choose to follow God’s Will and ways. That is, instead of giving into the selfishness, or temptations to sin that we encounter.

As believing Christians, we are called to live out one day at a time, and try to make good choices in keeping with what God teaches in scripture; to try to make faith-based choices that are consistent with what we profess to believe. However, sometimes we all fall short, try as we will. Sometimes we don’t listen to our conscience that guides us in living out our faith and to do “the right thing.” Instead, we do whatever is easy and/or convenient at the moment, that which makes us feel good, impresses others, or increases our comfort and/or wealth.

Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

Sure–scripture and our conscience guide us on road to living faith. But do we always listen to God’s Word and do the right thing, even when given the choice? No—of course not! In our humanness, we are naturally drawn to worldly ways of doing things. But with living faith, we are far more apt to choose to rise above and deal with whatever comes our way with God’s grace, to take the high road. We really do serve an Almighty, Living God!

When we practice what we believe, our faith in God can grow by leaps and bounds. No one gets it right all the time; but as long as we listen to our conscience, and continue to try to follow God’s will in our lives, we will never stray too far. If we do wander, like a good shepherd, Jesus is always there to welcome us back when we turn to him and seek Him with all our being. No sin is too great for the Living God to forgive, as He stands in wait for us to return to Him, What He wants for us is to try our best to seek Him, and follow Him, and embrace our Christian lives with fervor and consistency, as we strive to do His will.

© Copyright 2024   |   Adele M. Gill

About the Author

Adele M. Gill is a retired RN/BSN, Chaplain, freelance writer, author of 6 books, blog author, and podcast host. https://www.theinspirationcafeblog.net. She resides in Maryland with her husband, and may be reached at: gilladelem@gmail.com.