This last Sabbath, Ana and I visited the Young Adults Sabbath School Class at church (yeah, they even welcome old fogies like me!). We were discussing Revelation and how it can be hard to understand, especially for someone who isn’t familiar with the Bible.
One of the young ladies mentioned a friend who doesn’t believe in much of anything and how he couldn’t understand how she could believe the Bible. One of the other class members said, “Tell him you have to have faith.”
No offense, but I find we Christians tend to use the phrase, “you have to have faith”, as a cop-out when we don’t have an answer. We don’t really understand the subject ourselves, so we fall back on the tried-and-true, “You’ve gotta have faith” defense, nodding with satisfaction at our own wisdom. Meanwhile, the poor person we’re talking to is going, “Huh?”
For many the Bible is just an ancient book with a bunch of worn-out stories. This is why actions often speak louder than words. Yes, we need to share what the Bible says, but how it affects the way we live our lives is a more important witness than any words we use.
Remember the children’s game “Show and Tell”? Too often I get this backwards. I try to tell people what I believe, before I show them the difference it has made in my life. I need to follow the advice in James 2:18 to “show you my faith by my deeds.” In other words, I need to show, then tell!
In this coming year let’s get things in the right order. The Bible says, “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17) It’s time for us to “live by faith,” not just tell people to “have faith.” Let’s give people a reason to believe, before we tell them to believe. In other words, let’s show, then tell, not the other way around.