Walking Out Our Faith
We all walk out our faith daily in a way that seems most effective to us. As well-meaning and sincere as we all may be, we tend to take different approaches often based on our personalities and upbringing.
We can choose to live in a Christian subculture where we mainly only associate with like-minded believers. We only want to read Christian books, only listen to Christian music, and only watch Chrisian movies. This may make us feel safe and undefiled, but when we voluntarily disengage from the public arena, we strip ourselves of any real potential for influence. Our faith and the light of the gospel become isolated and ineffective. We eventually stagnate.
Another strategy can be to blend in with those around us. The nation of Israel in the time of the monarchy struggled to be like surrounding nations. Conformity seemed easier and less awkward. At times, we are tempted to take the same approach. We form our ideas from current marketplace ideas. By doing this, we seem more accommodating and familiar with the world as we try to follow the latest cultural trends and blend into the status quo. But before long it is hard to distinguish us from all the world around us. We have blended in so well we are no longer salt and light for the Kingdom of God.
A third strategy that Christians adopt is the aggressive “Church attacking Culture” approach. With Christian worldview and morality marginalized in our day, we can slip into an aggressive “us verses them” approach. If we are not careful, we will be driven by fear more than faith. Our good intentions can quickly escalate into a massage of anger or fear as we strive to win back the culture at any cost. It soon becomes “us versus them”. This weakens rather than strengthens the gospel message.
Let’s consider a fourth scenario in our Christian walk: to be a transformer. This is walked out when our daily actions and mere presence help improve the world around us. We all have a sphere of influence in the place where we live, work, study, socialize, and interact. We can carry God’s grace and peace to those we encounter throughout our day. When the apostle Paul encouraged his Philippian friends to engage their culture, he exhorted them to do everything without complaining and arguing and to be “blameless and pure, ‘children of God’ without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” He told them that this would cause them to shine like stars as they “held firmly to the word of life.” Philippians 2:14-16 Paul acknowledged the crooked nature of the godless culture of his day, and he counseled them against compromise. He encouraged each one to bring the gospel light into the darkness around them and make the invisible kingdom of God visible. As we follow his advice, this will poke holes in the darkness around us with the light of God’s love.
Jesus calls us to engage the world with meekness, gentleness, and compassion. Our goal is not to stand totally apart, blend totally in, or win arguments but to win hearts. We must be approachable and engaging in a genuine way. Jesus knew when to go apart with His disciples to be refreshed and strengthened. Yet He wasn’t afraid to eat with publicans and sinners and opened conversations with them. He clearly didn’t try to blend in but walked in His calling and fulfilled all His Father’s will. There were times when He boldly spoke out and defended truth regardless of the cultural norms of the day and times when he did not.
Jesus reminds us in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” He is our source of light and our example for engaging society. Let’s keep our lamps burning brightly as we venture out daily into our sphere of influence and walk out our faith.
Which of these strategies do you see yourself most prone to walk in?
