Real and Relevant Faith

Is my faith real? Does my life reflect what I preach? Am I preaching the Gospel or simply my version of it? Does my life as a Christian match what I read in the Scripture? Are people put off by what I say because my life doesn't match up and they cannot relate to my faith? Have we set ourselves up by preaching some kind of happy-all- the-time, prosperity message only to find that we cannot reconcile when things don't quite work out the way we thought it would? When people observe Christians behaving and relating to one another, will they see any difference being a Christian? How do we fare on issues of morality, integrity, character, and in terms of being gracious, kind, generous, patient, etc? Earlier I posted the question on whether the list of Beatitudes is a prescriptive or descriptive list. I guess it troubles me a great deal that my life seems far from being able to live up those standards. How do I close the gap??

Another thing that has always troubled me is to see how many Christians have fallen over the years. Some of them grew up with me in the youth fellowship and served together as leaders; they were once very fervent and used greatly to win others to the Lord. Today I know a few who have walked away from the faith, want to have nothing to do with the church and even chosen to convert to another faith! I dare not boast of where I am today for I know not where I will be tomorrow, save for the grace of God.

This post was not written because I had answers to give but to provide food for thought. Do these things trouble you? Would you like to respond?

More stuff to chew on from this article:
The Evangelical Scandal