This past week I have been studying religions and worldviews. I took a worldviews course in Uganda which opened my eyes to how people's religions shape their worldview. It is really the framework that makes our decisions. Our leadership class was given the task to explore what we believe and how well we accept others beliefs. Part of our assignment was to write down ten statements that summarize our core worldview/spiritual beliefs. Under each statement we were to write, "And because of this belief I practice..." Easier said than done. When we all got together last night we compiled our lists. Here are a few examples:
-I believe that God owns everything, and because of this belief I support missions.
-I believe God loves everyone, and because of this belief I try to love others.
-I believe that Jesus came to serve us, and because of this belief I serve others.
-I believe that Jesus came to love the world's invisible, and because of this belief I show them love.
-I believe God speaks to us, and because of this belief I pray to Him.
-I believe in the trinity, and because of this belief I seek community.
It was fascinating to see how many things we believe don't necessarily have actions associated with them. This poses the question, what's the point? You can believe anything you want, but if it does not make you get up and do something, that belief remains useless. It is easy to say that I show others love, but how do I DO this? How do I actually go about loving other people that are often difficult to love? This requires an action.
The scarier exercise would be to write down your actions, and then go back and correlate them to a belief. I spend more time checking my email than I do reading the Bible, therefore I am often concerned more about what other people are doing than what God wants me to do. Frightening, but exposing the truth in my life will only bring my closer to God.
Every Sunday in church we recite the Apostle's Creed. "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and earth...." What does that mean for the rest of my week? I once heard a speaker who compared the relationship between knowledge and actions to carrots. No joke. He went on and on explaining how many benefits there are to eating carrots. It was fascinating. They are great for your eyes, and physical stamina, and many others things I have since forgotten. If you eat enough carrots, your skin will begin to have an orange tint. But all of the knowledge about how wonderful eating carrots is does not make you healthy. You actually have to eat them. It requires an action! Just like the knowledge of God. You can know everything about Him, but unless you Know Him you are just another over educated American.
I desire to live differently. I desire change. I desire to see, as Jesus did, the value of the world's invisible.
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