Jesus taught His disciples that being faithful was about personal, inner piety and public, compassionate care. He told them to pray in a closed room and to not be like those who flaunted their religious behavior in public. He also told them to feed, house, visit, and care for people who were struggling. Let your light shine! Worship in public with others of your faith community while you live that faith out every day in the way you treat others. Faith was not and is never a private thing alone; faith must be practiced in a community of believers and used to make the world we live in – our neighborhood, our town and state and nation, and our planet – like heaven. That is what the Lord’s prayer tells us every time we pray it. James said it better: Faith without works is dead.
And yet, too many of us err to one side or the other. We either focus only on our personal walk with God, which is spiritual narcissism, or we stay busy with the doing without much inner spiritual depth. I will admit that much of my early life was like this; I was great at the doing and helping, but it was not undergirded by a strong prayer life. I have worked for decades to change that flaw in myself, but I am impatient, and sitting in prayer often felt like a waste of time. It isn’t. Not supporting our compassionate work with inner preparation eventually burns us out, and then we are no good for anyone or anything.
Pres. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were excellent examples of people who lived lives of balanced faithfulness. They worshiped in a community of faith, and they got their hands dirty building homes for Habitat for Humanity. Their foundation made the world – literally, the world – a better place. They didn’t just talk about God; they lived their faith in God. I can’t be any clearer than this: saying you believe in God but not practicing your faith is just a way of lying to yourself. We cannot be faithful in a bubble, and we cannot fool people into believing that we love God when we don’t love our neighbors. We cannot live selfish lives and, at the same time, say we believe in a God of generosity. Our words don’t matter unless they are backed up by our actions. If you tell me you believe in God, I need to see that you believe in God by the way you live your life. Otherwise, your empty words will show me just who you really are.
Is that clear enough? As Jesus said, let those who have ears (or eyes) listen (and see).
Prayer – Holy God, You have offered each one of us a choice to live for You and others, or to only live for ourselves. Help us to choose wisely. Amen.