October 26, 2007
I hear my friends say that God is their “best friend”. But if I treated my best friend like they treat their God, I wouldn’t have them as a friend for long. They talk about faith and church and stuff, but they aren’t much different than me. When they ask me to come to church, and I’ve seen them doing some of the stuff that they do, I don’t get it. ~Ben
Ben, you’re right. We have to be careful about talking about our faith, and then forgetting to live it. I think what happens is that people get real comfortable with all the elements of faith: going to church, having a family that is Christian, doing church stuff, but forgetting that faith is a very personal and real relationship.
If God is our best friend, and He is, then we also have to remember that He’s the creator of the Universe. He’s a healer, a peacemaker, our creator, and following Christ means that we learn to listen to Him, obey Him, and let Him show us how to live, how to grow, and how to KNOW him, not just about Him.
Perhaps your friends have forgotten that, or they don’t realize how confusing it is to you or others to see someone talk about faith, but not live it.
Does that mean that Christians will be perfect? No. : ) It’s a life-altering process that begins the day you start to follow Him, and it continues all your life.
One thing that is important is to look at Christ when trying to learn about faith, instead of people. Who was He? Why does an encounter with Him change your life?
If you have questions about faith, then I hope you will come back to RTF often. Also, we’d love to send you a copy of my book, Real Teens, Real Stories, Real Life. One of the stories in this book talks about this a little more in-depth. : ) I hope it is helpful.
Suzie Eller
Deb says:
Hey Ben,
We Christians aren’t what we should be. We never are. We’re all gonna fail you. We’re poor examples–at best.
But the God we serve–He won’t fail you.
Imagine, you judged me based off of what you saw my friends and family were like. You wouldn’t get a picture of what I’m *really* like; you’d get disorted images based off of my friends’ and family’s thoughts and feelings toward me.
I know that Satan LOVES to use others’ faith (or lack of) to cause us to stumble. He did for me, too for a long time.
But when I was 16, I stopped looking at others’ faith and started looking at my own. Instead of concentrating on how others should be doing(reading their Bible, praying, etc), I concentrated on how I should act.
The result was the best summer of my life. I have never regretted my desicion to have a relationship with God. It’s been an AWESOME journey.
And I look forward to each new day and each new oppurtunity to grow.
Debbie
T. Suzanne Eller says:
That’s awesome, Deb. Thanks!