Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Making of the Faithful

Iype Chandy (Anil)
Connecticut Mar Thoma Congregation

13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.
Being a faith based community, this passage resonates with us. The Biblical characters mentioned in the passage embody faith-in-action.  These individuals exhibited their faith by responding to God’s call, believing in His promises, offering heartfelt sacrifices to God, fearlessly going out into the unknown, courageously resisting evil governments, dutifully helping others, speaking out against injustice and sin, offering their own lives in obedience to God’s will, and never abandoning their identity as Christians even to the point of death.  Our Biblical fore-fathers and fore-mothers recognized that their belief in God had to be manifested by their actions. 
Do we exhibit faith-in-action?  Does our belief compel us to go out into the world and spread the Gospel?  Do we engage in the same faith-in-action activities that our Biblical and even ancestral fore-fathers and fore-mothers engaged in?  If the extent of our faith-in-action is just complacently attending church and prayer meetings then we miss the whole point of God’s call. This is a question that we are called on to answer many a time: Are we doing enough in the making of the faithful?  Is our spiritual inactivity the result of our greater love of this world compared to the “vs.16- longing for a better country – a heavenly one” that God’s truly faithful look forward to? 

PRAYER

Dear God, please forgive us for our spiritual inactivity, our complacency, our lack of energy for advancing Your Gospel in this world.  We detest how our lack of empathy and our cynical outlook that has insidiously robbed us of our faith.  Invigorate us O God.  Teach us how to exhibit faith-in-action.  Speak to us O Lord.  Please do not let us go.  In Jesus Christ’s name we pray.  Amen.       

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“Faith in action is love, and love in action is service.  By transforming that faith into living acts of love, we put ourselves in contact with God Himself, with Jesus our Lord.”  – Mother Teresa
 

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