Doing the Faith

I suppose in one sense, if you’re going to read a blog called Christianity 201, it’s because you feel you’ve got a bit of a handle on Christianity 101, and are looking for something deeper.

I enjoy posting devotional material here daily. I write some of it, but I also have a wonderful daily journey trying to find new writers and new sources of food for thought. I wish you could see that process in action.

In the last 48 hours or so however, as I’ve been reading various things, I’ve been convinced again that what we know and what we’ve studied is somewhat meaningless if it doesn’t reflect it self in our actions, in what we do. The Christian Bookseller’s Association has a motto that they h0pe motivates their various retail members: “What goes into a mind comes out in a life.” That’s how it should be with faith. A lot of learning, a lot of studying is meaningless if we aren’t involved in the outworking of Biblical truth into daily living.

So today, I’m going to simply repeat something I blogged at Thinking Out Loud under the title Be That Person. If this applies to anyone, it especially applies to the readers here at Christianity 201.

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I was in my early 20’s and really struggling with college and relationships and everything in between. Then a couple from my church asked me over for lunch one day. They were older than I was, with kids in junior high. They could see that I was hurting and offered friendship and listened to my story, and then offered some good advice that only a fresh perspective could bring. They also introduced me to one of the seniors in the church who was this incredible storehouse of the kind of wisdom I really needed. I am so thankful that both the couple and the older person reached outside their social circle to help me at a point in life where I was feeling very lost.

So many times you hear stories of people coming along side and helping out someone they hardly know or don’t know. That’s the appeal of books like So You Don’t Want To Go Church Anymore or The Noticer. Here’s the deal: Each and every person reading this has the potential to be a mentor to someone else. Not just “an encourager,” but someone who truly invests in someone else’s life. I can guarantee that there’s somebody out there who you’re older than, who you’ve had more life experiences than. Your story can intersect with their story.

Everyone reading this has the potential to be a life-changer to someone else, to be the person in the story who makes a difference in someone else’s life.

Someone — three people, actually — in the above story stepped up to meet the need. Be that person! Find someone about whom God strongly indicates that because of the nature of your personal story, you have something constructive to speak into that person’s life.

The next time you hear a story about someone who reached into someone else’s life to make a lasting contribution, be the person in the story.