Friday October 6, 2023

Robin Burdick

Verb my faith

I was inspired by the summer sermon series. Each week worshiping in the garden of Strawberry Banke, amidst a thriving, bustling community we were challenged to remove our faith from the mantle and transform it from a noun to a verb. A verb is an action word and it’s more than professing our faith. I determined that my life needs to be changed to reflect Jesus seven days a week.

I am a numbers person, and it is easier for me to strive toward a goal if it’s measurable and realistic. I once consulted a doctor about my ideal BMI weight. When I heard that number I decided I had to quickly grow 8 inches taller or come up with a different goal that was more achievable.

I am listening to the book “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Philip Yancey. The author portrays Jesus as a man who varies his reactions according to the situation:

He seems excitable, impulsively moved with compassion or filled with pity. The gospels reveal a range of emotional responses: sudden sympathy for a person with leprosy, exuberance over his disciples 's successes, a blast of anger at cold hearted legalist, grief over an unreceptive city, and then those awful cries of anguish and dissent and on the cross. He had nearly inexhaustible patience with individuals but no patience at all with institutions and injustice.

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Jesus also loved to praise other people. When he worked a miracle, he often deflected credit back on the recipient's: your faith has healed you. The gospel show that Jesus quickly established intimacy with the people he met. Whether talking with a woman at a well, a religious leader in a garden, or a fisherman by the lake, he cut instantly to the heart of the matter after a few brief lines of conversation, these people revealed to Jesus their innermost secrets.

In my quest to verb my faith 7 days a week, Jesus sets the standard, which I accept I cannot attain. However, I can take actions in my relationships with others which help me strive for that goal.