What if my faith isn’t so personal?

Each week to start the New Year I have been asking a series of what if questions when it comes to your faith.  This week I was to focus around, “What if my faith is not just “personal,” what if it’s more than just a private thing between me and God?”  Often when conversations of faith and belief arise, people are quick to say, this is my person belief, or it’s ok it’s just between me and God anyway.  I don’t want to discount that there are matters of faith that are truly between God and you as an individual, but instead to say it’s not just between you and God.

 

Genesis 2:18 (ESV) “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”  Adam lived all alone and this was God’s answer.  Adam needed a helper, someone else.  From the very beginning of creation God reminds us that we are not made to be alone, we need other people.  Flip ahead to Proverbs 27:17 (NIV),“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”  We are meant to sharpen and encourage one another, but that requires another person.  Jesus even talks about this in the New Testament, Matthew 18:20,For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  The bible assumes that faith is not just between one person and God, but a community of people who share relationships with one another and God.

 

But Bill, it’s personal, it’s my faith, my belief.  Why are you getting up in my business when it comes to my faith?  Although your relationship with God might be personal, I think you need to be honest with yourself the affect that “personal” belief or relationship has in every other area of your life.  You may not agree with me, but no matter, your “personal” faith or lack thereof will change how you treat your spouse and children.  It will guide your ethics at work, it will influence you decisions, how you spend your time and how you spend your money.  Our faith may involve a relationship between each of us with God, but it’s much more than a personal matter, it can change whole families and communities.

 

 

Pastor Bill

 

Discussion Questions

  1. How have you seen your faith make an impact in your life, your family, your work?