Major Theme: Faith shows itself through deeds
Action: Coming up with how to live out faith through action for a day was tricky, because we SHOULD do this every day. So, I spent a day NOT procrastinating anything.
Lessons Learned: Educational, but ultimately created more questions.
A few cool things. Got up to the 1st alarm instead of the 3rd snooze, had an efficient and productive day, felt a sense of accomplishment, blah blah blah...Moving on.
A very common verse quoted from James is James 2:26, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” This goes hand-in-hand with one of my favorite quotes: "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." -Brennan Manning (you know you are rocking to old-school DC Talk in your head right now).
Anyway, thinking about these brought to mind a lot of questions about some key areas where we procrastinate our deeds. Mainly, time with God, service, relationships, and witnessing. ****note: I am extremely guilty, and these are my convictions NOT my instructions. Just sharing what I’m learning.****
Time with God: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” – Rev 4:11 (KJV). We are created to worship Him. Yes, it’s that simple.“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” – Exodus 9:16. The most selfless thing God can do is bring us to Himself, because He is the supplier of all our needs. If we believe that, then why is time with God often put off until later? Seriously? It is absolutely ridiculous. Is it because we know He is always there and will forgive us, or because we are doing better than most, so God should be okay with that? Reality check: "He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord." -2 Chronicles 12:14. Seeking God is not doing God a favor. He doesn’t NEED us to join his team, life is not the NFL draft. His plan will happen with or without us. In actuality, we are supposed to yearn after God because the best thing for US is time with HIM. For me, it is extremely apparent when I am and when I am not consistently rooted in the Word. My world is different; full v. empty. Real life application: A few days after my "non-procrastination" day, a friend asked if I would be interested in committing to a year-long daily Bible study. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. for the next 365. Answer: yes without hesitation.
Service: “…and I will show you my faith by what I do.” – James 2:18. Honestly, we are never going to have enough time, enough money, or a good “break” at work. Life will never settle down and circumstances will never be perfect. Truth be told, time is dictated by priorities. Are we pulling a John Mayer and “waiting on the world to change” or a Ghandi and “be(ing) the change you wish to see in the world.”?
Relationships: Ahh, this one is fun. To begin, think of Disney combined with chick flicks. Throw in cultural overabundance, instant gratification, ten-thousand books, the positive aspects of marriage, the negative aspects of singleness, the plethora of sappy love songs, and the lack of Biblical examples of dating. What do you get? A fantasy world in our minds, in which we very much procrastinate reality. The last couple of years have really taught me A TON here, but those insights will be reserved for another day.
Witnessing: Confession, I am horrible in this area. Worse, I am actually really good at influencing, convincing, communicating with strangers, and presenting a legitimate case for whatever the topic. My Dad easily envisioned me as lawyer or politician. Sadly, I rarely use this talent for the glory of the Lord. Sure, I'll talk about MY relationship with Christ to anyone. Will I ask them about their's? Christian friends, totally. Others I'm not certain about, not regularly. I'm afraid of offending, ruining a friendship, appearing close-minded, seeming judgemental or unaccepting, and possibly even being that "Christian fanatic". I tend to think another time will be better and less awkward. We'll chat later. Stark contrast to our confused minds, we can always count on Paul to tell it like it is. "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." -Galatians 1:10. So if we are servants of Christ, what should this look like? "Come and follow me" Jesus said, "And I will make you fishers of men." -Mark 1:17. He also told Simon Peter to "Feed my lambs" -John 21:15. Also, "Jesus says to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.'" -Mark 16:15. And of course the great commission."Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," -Matthew 28:19. Paul says, "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season..." -2 Timothy 4:2. and "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." -Colossians 4:5. James has an overall sense of urgency. In addition to scripture, one of the most convicting facts came from Penn Jillette, an atheist comedian, magician, and filmmaker, after someone gave him a Bible following a show. Jillette said, "How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhG-tkQ_Q2w
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