How do I show my faith?

This one is both very simple, and very difficult.  Live it.  Every moment of every day.  You show your faith as you strive with the help of the Holy Spirit to love everyone you meet.  To treat them the way you would want to be treated, even when they are being a pain in the butt.  To love those who only seem to want to do us harm.  To take that extra moment before we blow up at that bozo who just cut you off, remember the 8^th Commandment which calls us to see what others do in the best possible light, and then consider that they might be distracted by a bad day and just didn’t see you.

We show our faith in the way in which we live and act at work, at home, at school.  Are we attentive to others and what they need?  Are we generous with our time, energy, and resources?

We show our faith when we do the things that our faith says is important.  When we assemble with other believers around Word and Sacrament in worship.  When we spend time in God’s Word found in the Bible.  When we spend time in prayer- conversation- with God.

We show our faith when we are open with others that we are people of faith.  When we invite them to join us for worship or other church event.

We show our faith, not as some performance, but in the same way we show our support for a favorite sports team, or politician, or actor, or company.  By being open and unapologetic about that connection.  By making those things we do to support them a priority.

We show our faith when we (inevitably) fail at doing these things and we admit that we have fallen short, then get right back up and try again- with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We show our faith when we are honest with people that we are, as one colleague puts it, “grace hardened sinners.”  That our perfection is in Jesus, not in ourselves.  We show our faith, when we live as the people God has called us to be.

It’s that simple and that difficult.  But we have a God who is merciful and forgives us when we fall short of that goal.  We have a God who has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to encourage and enable us to do better.  We have a God who loves us- regardless.

Thanks be to God!