Using the Faith

"If you don't use it, you'll lose it." If you once studied another language and haven't used it for years, or used to know how to solve complicated math equations but have not had to for years, you know it is true.

Here are some sobering statistics from the Barna Group comparing data gathered in 2000 with answers given last year: Those self-identifying as Christian have decreased by 12%; those attending church monthly has gone down 7%; those who note religious faith as important went down 20%. Apparently more and more people are not "using" the faith.

So what does it means to "use" the faith? Faith is, more than anything else, complete trust in God that what He says in His Word is true. And the basic truth? John 3:16 -- God sent His Son Jesus because He loves you and wants to be in a loving, living personal relationship with you that forgiveness of sin makes possible. And not only does He want to be with you through this life, but He desires to have eternal fellowship with you in the wonder of the new heaven and the new earth. What is even more remarkable is that faith itself is God's gift worked by the Holy Spirit beginning in the wonder of Holy Baptism.

To use the faith begins with "thanks living," responding to being the recipient of such amazing love through appreciation of God's gifts and blessings and the desire to serve Him and share His love as He gives opportunity to do so. It also means giving thanks for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and not living in competition with them, trying to show that you are "just as good as they are," or judging the sincerity of their faith. Rather, when we use the faith we delight in how each person has unique abilities and gifts that our Lord puts together in His Church to grow His Kingdom and we have sincere concern for each other.

For the next two weekends our Epistle reading will be from Romans 12, and we'll focus on what it means to "use" the faith. I invite you not only to make worship with the fellow members of the Body of Christ a priority, but to spend some time prayerfully reading through that chapter several times, asking that God the Holy Spirit would use the time to help you grow in the faith by hearing what He wants you to hear and giving you the ability to live it out in your life.