{"id":56269,"date":"2022-03-02T07:52:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T07:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=56269"},"modified":"2022-03-02T07:52:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T07:52:16","slug":"of-life-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=56269","title":{"rendered":"Of Life and Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Namani J Nharrel\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life here talks of the Christian’s being and doing. Faith refer to the Christian beliefs and practices. Of life and faith, therefore, is about integrating being and doing into faith. It is about applying our beliefs to all areas\u00a0 of life.<\/p>\n

In some ‘versions’ of\u00a0 Christianity, life is divided into sacred and secular. However in other faiths, the two are interwoven. Faith dictates the hows, whys, and whats of life; the life lived,\u00a0 shows the whats of faith. Their way of life, is defined by their belief system.<\/p>\n

Most Peoples<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most people groups see their ways of life as superior to any other. They see\u00a0 other people through their faith’s eyes as inferior; and therefore use degrading terms to describe them. These descriptions are deliberate, and calculated to: keep distance in association, maintain their own distinctiveness, and give reasons to judge and condemn those they see as different from them.<\/p>\n

An Example<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Jews of Judaism called non-Jews heathen, Muslims of Islam call non Muslims infidels, Christians of Christianity call non-Christians\u00a0 unbelievers. Those so described uncomplimetarily, get the message, “If you don’t belong to our faith, your life can never be the same as ours.”<\/p>\n

Christianity Discriminates\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christianity makes no pretence, that non-believers in Christ are living less than normal life, than God intended. However, its difference with other faith systems is that it\u00a0 persuades with proofs, that life in Christ is the ideal all humanity should attain. Rather than go forceful on others, it gently says, consider and accept Jesus Christ in faith, and you will live and enjoy better life.<\/p>\n

It Conquers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christianity’s approach to winning people, has\u00a0 conquered many people and nations. It changed hearts, replaced cultures, promoted peace; united people across different barriers and transformed lives, wherever the message is preached and accepted.<\/p>\n

With all its conquering and life changing power; true Christianity remains humble, peaceful, and accommodating.<\/p>\n

The Abuse<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those qualities, however, renders it easy to abuse. It’s in Christianity that adherent live as they please and go free. They abuse the freedom it gives, the grace that saves, the mercy that withholds punishment, the love that is all embracing, the fellowship that binds into one family and the new life\u00a0 given them at a cost no one could ever afford.<\/p>\n

Twisted Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

The abuse of the Christian faith has resulted in the twisted life of many Christians. They don’t see or understand where life and faith meet, and have thrown themselves in deep mess. They refuse to let faith dictate their life, and would not live to reflect their faith. Many now suffer from identity crises, and yet are proud to belong to nowhere.\u00a0 Many are confused in their thinking, yet they think they own the world. Many are godless, yet they see themselves as custodians of the faith. They have exchanged biblical values for\u00a0self-serving ones. Their world view is unclear. Their morality stinks. They value no integrity, enthrone hypocrisy and multiply sin in society.<\/p>\n

And God…<\/strong><\/p>\n

God is at the receiving end of these twisted lives. His name suffers disgrace, his church is brought to disrepute, his kingdom shrinks, his glory is blurred and His enemy mocks him everyday.<\/p>\n

Learn from them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems ridiculous to suggest that Christians can learn some things from people of\u00a0other religions. But, we can. The New Testament\u00a0 writers quoted from pagan authors. Jesus urged his disciples to learn from a crooked manager. We can learn and be humbled from their attititudes, commitment and their understanding that life and faith cannot be separated.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A Disclaimer<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not to say that all roads lead to God. Christ only, is the way. Also, zeal, commitment, right attitude are not enough to save. Salvation comes by faith in Christ alone.<\/p>\n

What to Learn\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ironically people of other faiths live in the spirit of the principles Christian have abandoned. Though not claiming any relationship with Christ, those of\u00a0 other faiths live the way God want Christians to:<\/p>\n

\u2022 They don’t separate their lives from their religion. They work for their faith and their faith works for them.<\/p>\n

\u2022 They don’t use the name of their gods in vain, nor to entertain themselves.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The sacredness of their gods means absolute surrender, reverence and unconditional obediencce.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Modesty and decency in outward appearance matters to them and they faithfully observe them.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In their conduct in public and social life, they value integrity and dignity.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Family life is held in high esteem, and they maintain order, discipline, and morality.<\/p>\n

\u2022 They believe in\u00a0 the supremacy and sovereinity of their deity and so resign their fate to it.<\/p>\n

\u2022 They use their position and possession to promote and propagate their belief system unashamedly.<\/p>\n

\u2022 They believe there is time for everything and are patient to wait for things to happen in their favour.<\/p>\n

Listed above and more, are plain biblical teachings which many Christians have abandoned. By this, they forget the purpose of life<\/p>\n

Purpose of Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 life we live now prepares us for eternity. How we live it matters to the God we will meet in eternity. The purpose of life, in time and space is to live to please God. Faith provides the road map to this end.\u00a0 Therefore to think and act in life separate from faith is going out of the way to eternity.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where life is not affected by faith, is not Christianity. Where faith is not shown in life, is not Christianity. The Bible insists, “…Do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence, shrinking back from all that might displease him.” (Philippians 2:12 The Living Bible). Then it states, “So you see, it isn\u2019t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn\u2019t show itself by good works is no faith at all\u2014it is dead and useless (James 2:17 TLB).<\/p>\n

\u25aa\ufe0e Nharrel, a Christian worker based in Kaduna, sent this via WhatsApp<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Namani J Nharrel\u00a0 Introduction Life here talks of the Christian’s being and doing. Faith refer to the Christian beliefs and practices. Of life and faith, therefore, is about integrating being and doing into faith. It is about applying our beliefs to all areas\u00a0 of life. In some ‘versions’ of\u00a0 Christianity, life is divided into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":56270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772],"tags":[3601,443,1717],"class_list":["post-56269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","tag-christian","tag-faith","tag-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}