November 18, 2018 - Inscriptions From The Heart

November 18, 2018
Pastor Immanuel Garcera

FAITH & PRACTICE

When I was in High School in McNally, (go Tigers) I’ve always wondered who among my classmates were Christians. I mean, some of them had to be right? I would base my guess on how nice they were, how little they swore, but if they spoke about God – that would be a dead giveaway. No one really identified themselves as Christian, so in the end of my three years – I just assumed some of them were Christ followers. Fast forward to about five years out of high school, I was 23 and I run into an old high school classmate after finishing a youth leader’s meeting. He remembered me as a basketball player (weird right?) and he introduced me to the people he was with as the leaders in his youth ministry. To both our surprise, we didn’t know, that the other was Christian. Then it hit me, my actions and words in high school probably didn’t meet the expectations I was looking for in other people, hence, even I was not identified as someone who obviously loves Christ (ouch).

One of my many favourite verses in scripture is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:13-16 speaks of being salt and light on the earth and Jesus ends this section of teaching by saying, “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) For me, personally, and so many others – the purpose of putting our faith into practice is to bring glory to God. And how do we know if our practice is matching up our faith? A good question to ask is; “are my actions bringing glory to God?” or “are people being drawn to God by my actions?”

Consider what you have done this week, or even just today – how many times have your actions brought glory to God? How many people were drawn to the Father because of your actions? Or did your actions bring shame to the Father? The other aspect that Jesus warns us about in that passage is the uselessness of salt that isn’t salty or light that is covered up. In the same way, if we are not fulfilling our purpose in this world to give glory to God our father – what good is it then? Is that not our only purpose? So church, I challenge you today – me included – to put our faith in practice in a way that people will be drawn to the Father and give Him glory.

To God be the glory!