What is Living Faith?
So just what is living faith? It's putting faith into practise. It's not just saying, 'I believe', but showing what I believe by the way I live. This wouldn't be a problem if I just believed that it's OK to be grumpy, grouchy, selfish and greedy, but I don't. I think we shouldn't beat ourselves up for being human, but that we should try not to be too grumpy, grouchy, selfish and greedy, or to be them too often. I believe I'm actually happier when I'm not grumpy, grouchy, selfish and greedy.
I believe that Jesus came to show us the best way to live. This causes me a bit of a problem, and it's not just knowing exactly what Jesus did and said. My problem is that if I want to put my faith into practise I have to try and live like Jesus did and do the things he said and I don't find that easy.
So for me living faith isn't about living up to my beliefs entirely, but about trying to live up to them a bit more as time goes by.
As Lent is now underway, this seems a good time to reflect on just how my life and faith match up.
The most fundamental of Jesus' teachings seems to me to be that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Easy? Not at all. Loving other people is hard enough, but notice we also need to love ourselves, and that can be even harder, but if we don't love ourselves, and know ourselves to be loved by others, we don't have a hope of loving others.
However, if we love others as ourselves, we shan't be totally selfless, caring nothing for our own needs. This command, or rule to live by is about balance. Loving our neighbour as ourselves involves a balance between concern for our own well-being and concern for our neighbour's well-being.
We need to eat a healthy diet, take exercise, accept and forgive ourselves, recognise our talents and strenghts etc, and if we love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves we will put up with his faults, make sure we don't grab all the goodies and leave some for her, do our best to understand him and treat her with respect.
I believe that Jesus came to show us the best way to live. This causes me a bit of a problem, and it's not just knowing exactly what Jesus did and said. My problem is that if I want to put my faith into practise I have to try and live like Jesus did and do the things he said and I don't find that easy.
So for me living faith isn't about living up to my beliefs entirely, but about trying to live up to them a bit more as time goes by.
As Lent is now underway, this seems a good time to reflect on just how my life and faith match up.
The most fundamental of Jesus' teachings seems to me to be that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Easy? Not at all. Loving other people is hard enough, but notice we also need to love ourselves, and that can be even harder, but if we don't love ourselves, and know ourselves to be loved by others, we don't have a hope of loving others.
However, if we love others as ourselves, we shan't be totally selfless, caring nothing for our own needs. This command, or rule to live by is about balance. Loving our neighbour as ourselves involves a balance between concern for our own well-being and concern for our neighbour's well-being.
We need to eat a healthy diet, take exercise, accept and forgive ourselves, recognise our talents and strenghts etc, and if we love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves we will put up with his faults, make sure we don't grab all the goodies and leave some for her, do our best to understand him and treat her with respect.
1 comments:
I wandered over to your blogs through Almost Mrs. Average. I love that you are wrestling so deeply with living out your faith! Too many just go through the motions. To borrow a Budhist phrase, it's a kind of "living mindfully".
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