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If No Sound
Faith of All Kinds©
August 30,
2009
Song of
Solomon 2:8-13
Psalm
45:1-2, 6-9
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Amy DeWitte
You know the types – there are some Christians
that seem to be super spiritual. They have a very close relationship with God,
are constantly praying, knowing that God is speaking directly to them and that
their prayers are heard by God. And then there are the Christians whose faith
is all about action. They work for justice, feed the hungry, and care for the
poor. In fact, you might see yourself as falling into one of these categories –
inward, intimate faith or outward, active faith.
If you do, you might find yourself drawn to
certain passages of Scripture more than others. For example, if you have a very
intimate faith, you might see your own relationship with God expressed in our
Song of Solomon passage for today. Song of Solomon is an unapologetically
intimate and even erotic book of the Bible, written like a duet sung between two
lovers. Think of the Scripture today as a beautiful depiction of the
relationship between God and God’s people. The metaphor is an old one – God is
the groom and the church is God’s bride – when you read the passage from the
Song of Songs, you can sense the intimate love between the speaker and her
lover, you can feel the desire she feels for him as she longs for him and his
desire for her as he beckons, “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away!” (vss
10, 13).
If your
expression of faith is outward and active, you might see your relationship with
God reflected more in today’s passage from James. “Be doers of the word, and not
merely hearers who deceive themselves,” (vs 22) James says. “Religion that is
pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and
widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (vs 27).
This is the same guys who says, “Faith without works is dead” (2:20).
If you find yourself leaning to one side or
the other of this spectrum, it can be easy to point fingers of judgment at other
who tend to express their faith in different ways, If you’re more of the inward
relational type with God, and you encounter a brother or sister who is the
active, outward type, you might question whether that person even has a personal
relationship with Jesus at all. And if you’re the active, outward type and you
come across a very pious, intimate brother or sister, you might question whether
their faith, without works, is dead.
But
let’s try to be careful not to point those fingers. What is crazy wonderful
about our faith is that there’s room for all kind of Christian, room in the
Scripture for different kinds of faith expressions, and room in each of our
lives for relating to God in different ways. In fact, as Christians we’re
called to both an intimate relationship with God and an outward love for
our brothers and sisters! What can we do to foster both works of piety and
works of mercy in our daily lives?
Copyright © 2009 Amy DeWitte. All Rights Reserved. No portion of
this writing may be reproduced in any form without specific, written
permission of the author.
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