Friday, March 20, 2015

The Practicality of Christendom

Hello & Welcome!

I hope you're doing well today. I would like to briefly touch on a very necessary (and practical) use of our Christian walk. Whether you're new to the faith, been devout of most of your life, or even if you choose not to profess any faith in Jesus Christ, I encourage you to read this post through. I hope you will find it helpful. 

I would like to start today in the book of James (go figure, right!). If you know me well, then you know that this is my favorite book of the Bible. You would think that I favor it because of the namesake, but that's not quite true. I love this book because it is the most practical. While we know James is the name of the author, it is disputed as to which James it is. Authorship is commonly attributed to the James, the half-brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19). For the sake of time, we will assume this to be true. Regardless of who wrote the letter, it's few words speak a full meal worth of putting you faith into practice. 

We will focus on one passage, in particular, today. 

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
                                                                                   -James 1:22 NIV (bold and italics are mine)

There is a common saying that I have heard since becoming a Christian, "Fat, Baby Christians." While some of you may consider it to be off-color, I would stand behind it's intent. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is addressing the church of Corinth. While they were new to the faith, Paul says he gave them, "milk." We know that he is referring to his delivery and teaching method in this passage. You would not give AP, College-Level Calculus homework to a kindergartner. We need to learn that 2 + 2 = 4 before we learn the, "Limits To Infinity." Where the, "fat baby," saying comes into play is when you're a 25 year-old student who is still learning 2 + 2 = 4. You learned this 20+ years ago. It is time to move on!!! It would be appalling to see suckling grown man, so it is with Christians who are 25+ years into their relationship and still have to be bottle-fed.
(FYI...I wanted to add a photo & I Googled pics of man babies. I DO NOT recommend it.)

There is a time for "childish" things. They have there place and serve their purpose. Eventually those childish things need to be put away. Like Paul said (1 Corinthians 13), and I am paraphrasing, I don't want to reason as a child while I am a man. I want to put those childish things away as I mature and grow. So, I must encourage you (and me), to use sound biblical teaching as a chance to, "grow up," in our faith. If we come in Sunday looking to be fed spiritually, then let us come in starving because we have spent ourselves practicing our faith the previous week.

Let us DO as the Word says!







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