I once had a handheld embosser for the books in my personal library. With it I could impress a raised seal on the title page of a book. The page would then forever bear my initials encircled with the words, “From the Library of Tom Goodman.” I lost the embosser on one of my moves, but many of my older books still have that personalized mark.
The relation of that tool to my books illustrates the relation of God’s truth to our lives. Having faith in certain doctrines and convictions is essential and yet incomplete.
On the one hand, being a Christian means having faith in the enduring truth of God’s word. God’s character and promises and expectations are found in the Bible. Read it, study it, discuss it, and believe it.
And yet there’s more to Christianity. What we believe has to make an impression in our attitudes and behavior. In Ephesians 1:18-19, Paul wrote, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” Paul wanted believers to move beyond mere mental agreement with certain facts. He wanted those facts to show up in their priorities and passions.
This will help you, but it will also help those around you who are unfamiliar with Christianity. They will have an easier time understanding it by first “reading” God’s truth in the imprint it makes in our lives. I mean, have you tried to read the wording on an embosser? The letters and the sentences are backwards. You can eventually work out what it says, but it’s easier to read the results the stamp makes into a page. Likewise, those who are unfamiliar with Christianity will find it easier to understand our faith by starting with the impression it makes in our lives.
Along with Paul, I pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened so we may actually experience the hope and the riches and the power that are ours in Christ!
--Tom
I wrote about one of the issues our convention will face next week. Read my blog post “Men and Women and Ministry” here.
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