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Faith in Action

The presents have been opened.  The wrapping paper is cleaned up.  I’m slowly recovering from the frenzy of the Christmas holiday season.  My wallet and my schedule are recuperating from crisis mode.  As another Christmas passes and the New Year looms and I reflect on all that happened this year, I am so full of thanks to God for all my blessings.  I learned a lot this year, small things and big things.  Note to self, don’t assume that your daughter’s 5-page Word document on the screen has been saved on the computer and delete it. Oops.  

One big thing that I have learned is that God is love and we need to share this idea in our thoughts and actions.  It is not enough to attend church and listen to sermons and go through the rest of the week without doing anything about what you have learned. We have to practice a living faith.

I’ve been especially blessed by listening to sermons on the internet.  After dropping Matthew off to school, I listen to a sermon on the internet while I clean up the kitchen and do my laundry.  I must look ridiculous as I’m washing the dishes and laughing hysterically in one minute and crying the next minute over the message that I’m hearing.   I get so excited about the messages because they paint a picture of a loving God and I feel motivated to do something about it.

For example, one pastor spoke about how there are a lot of mysteries in the Bible but there are certain things that are unequivocal.  In the Old Testament and the New, God calls us to “do unto others as you would do unto yourself.”  In Micah 6:8, the writer shows us what God asks of us: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

On the road to Emmaus, when Jesus was walking with the two believers, there were a lot of doubt and confusion on their minds. As the travelers neared the place where they were about to lodge for the night they kindly asked the stranger to abide with them.  It was at that point when their eyes were opened and they were able to “see” Jesus.  When they acted on the call to be hospitable to the stranger, they were able to realize spiritual truths.  These messages I’ve been hearing impressed me that I need to DO something about what I’ve been learning.  The more I listen to the Holy Spirit bidding me to do good works, the more spiritual mysteries can be unfolded to me.

I realized that when we don’t do anything about the messages we’ve been hearing, it is like the person who looks in the mirror and sees a piece of kim on his/her teeth but doesn’t take it out.  Or as the Pastor in another sermon pointed out, when we don’t act upon the spiritual truths we’ve been convicted about, we get (please excuse the unsanctified image) spiritual constipation.  One practical way God showed me how I can practice God’s love is to support my spiritual leaders.

Elena, our youth pastor’s wife, initiated the idea of sending care packages to our church’s college students. Our whole church got involved and the project built momentum.  Making the care packages was a great group effort.  I learned a few things from this experience:  Don’t expect our church leaders to do everything.  They need encouragement, feedback, legwork, and collaboration to do God’s work.  They get discouraged when everyone criticizes their plans; conversely, they get motivated to do more when they feel the energy and encouragement from the rest of the church. 

As a side note, we really need to support our leaders: senior pastors, youth pastors, elders, deacons and teachers.  Just because they have titles doesn’t mean that they need to bear the burden all by themselves.  I see a looming problem of the younger generation that doesn’t really want to get involved.  They feel that it is enough when they show up to church on Sabbath. There should not be a great divide of leaders and lay people when it comes to doing God’s work. Everyone needs to pitch in.

When I went to Campmeeting this summer, I was so incredibly proud to see our church leadership in action. I was so thankful to see how vibrant, smart, talented and motivated our senior pastors  and youth pastors were.  They do such a great job amidst the worldly and spiritual pressures they are facing. They really deserve and need our spiritual, financial and moral support. 

As Ellen White says, “The religion of the Bible is not to be confined between the covers of a book, nor within the walls of a church.  It is not to be brought out occasionally for our own benefit, and then to be carefully laid aside again.  It is to sanctify the daily life, to manifest itself in every business transaction and in all our social relations.” (The Desire of Ages, p. 168).

What I love about the Christian walk is what it does for me in the here and now.  It gives me wisdom, the motivation to get through the tough times, and the inspiration to serve others.  As Andre Crouch’s song goes, “But if heaven never was promised to me, Neither God’s promise to live eternally. It’s been worth just having the Lord in my life.”

So as I prepare for the New Year I pray that I can practice what I preach and support my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those in leadership positions.  I hope that I have learned from my mistakes.  I look forward to gaining an even deeper understanding of God’s love for me and the insights on how I can use that knowledge to help others.   I pray the same for those reading this article.

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Jane Chung is a stay-at-home mother of four living in Greenwich, Ct.   She attends the Westchester SDA church.