The Journey 136
Wednesday May 16
Read: Luke 18:9-14
            Your Faith living-Does it attract or repel? Just think about this statement. Do the way we express our faith and our faith living attract others?.  So that they also want to live a Christian life like the way we live, or does our expression of faith and our Christian living repel people?. These days we were meditating how even some believers can become racist in their expression of faith. But read this incident that came in one of  the news paper this week and the video of this wonderful faith witnessing is now shown in God Vine .  It is about  Sandy Detherage, a member of the High Pointe Church of Christ in McKinney, Texas, who works as an air traffic controller.  What he did was a simple act of sharing his faith, even when there was opposition, thus opening the door for God to transform two lives. His colleague was Dennis Welch who was totally opposed to anything regarding faith. So when Sandy would talk about his Christian commitment, Welch would oppose and bluntly tell him not to talk about these aspects while they were working and that he was not interested. But the life style of Sandy soon made Welch to slowly interact with him about many other topics and issues and finally they started talking about Christian faith. Welch started attending a bible study and later stared attending the worship services too. This association led Dennis and his wife Sharon Welch to go deeper into Christian faith and commitment and this led them to go Cambodia as missionaries, where they are still working. I think this is what true Christian living and witness is all about. The way we express our faith should not be an avenue where we tend to exclude others from knowing the Lord, on the contrary we should be able to influence others through our living and witness to the way of the Lord. I think that is how  we can bring transformation in our community. This week we are meditating on the theme “ Transformation in our community” based on the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector from Luke 18:9-14. Here is a wonderful example that Jesus mentions to teach us how we need to express our faith and also the pitfalls of so called “ righteous living”.  The Pharisees were righteous people but the way they expressed their faith in the community and they way they perceived their relationship with God was distorted. Faith and commitment for the Pharisees was just observation of some laws that does not impact or influence their life nor does their faith has anything to do with their relationship with others. It is in such a context  that Jesus teaches the disciples that commitment is all about transformation in oneself and also transformation in ones context of relationship. It is not that I should be concerned only about how I grow in my faith living and expressions but whether these faith expression lead us to a better relationship and understanding about oneself and others. Pharisees were not able to perceive themselves nor others and hence his claim that “he was not like the tax collector” when he came to the presence of God. What is needed in the life of the believers is something that Jesus taught us. Faith expression should lead a transformation in our life and also in the way we perceive others. Many believers also act like the Pharisees today, because for them also it is certain rituals or the observance of certain rituals that makes them Christian. “ If you are baptized in such a way then you are  believer, otherwise…….No”.  Christian living and witness is not just about the kind of baptism that you took, or the way you worship, or the church you belong, Christian living and witness is all about being faithful to the Lord in living true Christian life so that others could see Christ in us and be also challenged to live like us. This is what transformation in the community is all about.