Word vrs. Witness

38 weeks and 6 days

Last night we had a wonderful dinner with some lovely friends of ours. I hope we will be able to keep up hosting dinners and having friends over once Squeaker arrives. I love having a house full of people and laughter.

But last night the conversation was particularly appealing.

We talked about the importance of being a Christian in the world, and how we live in it and participate in it. For Mat and I, as most of you know, we see our choices in "buying goods" as another opportunity to live out our Christian faith. 

We buy organic or local when we can because we don't want to support big money making industry that revolves around greed and wealth while not producing quality products that are actually healthy or beneficial to the buyer. We also try to buy "greener" in an attempt to love not just the Earth God created, but our bodies that He created, as well as other people too! (What I pour down my drains can end up in your drinking water and vice versa and I don't want to poison you!)

We try to be healthier in general in our food choices at home, not just for our own diets but knowing that when we are offering our friends and family meals or treats it is something that will benefit their health as well.

Finally, we spend less when we can, trying to be faithful stewards of the money God has given us. So we make things from scratch that will last us longer so we don't have to constantly run back to buy more.

All that said, I don't believe our conversation last night fully conveyed all that and its connection to the Christian life, as one of our guests in particular disagreed that it was necessary for a Christian to live this way, but rather that their primary objective ought to be declaring the gospel of Jesus to save those who are lost.

I spent much of the night in bed uncomfortable from Squeaker sleeping on my ribcage! But it gave me plenty of quiet time to think this all through. My conviction was that every Christian ought to strive, the best they can, to live this way as a testimony to their faith. However, that being said, it must go hand in hand with someone actually proclaiming what they believe about Jesus and making it obvious that they live in this way because of Him.

For me it simply boiled down to, you must talk about your faith AND live it. If you do one without the other, you may be setting yourself up for failure.

Now that's not to say, "if you don't buy organic milk you suck as a Christian". But I will say, if you are not consciously thinking about how you are supposed to 'participate' in this western society as someone who buys and as a Christian, then you could very well neglecting a big part of your Christian witness. Now, how the Holy Spirit convicts you of your part in this world is between you and Him. But if all you do is preach without practically loving your neighbour, (like the Good Samaritan who cared for the stranger without saying a word to him) then what good are you words?

On the flip side, this rant is not to say that "if you do buy organic milk, you are doing great as a Christian". Plenty of people buy organic, are healthy, green and make things from scratch, and they can be anything - atheists, Muslims, whatever. If you are doing these things as a Christian, it's vital that you share why, talk about your faith, talk about why you believe caring for the Earth and others is important to you as a Christian. Talk about God as a loving Creator who is going to restore His creation, and judge those who have loved Him and those who have not, and encourage others to love God and love Jesus. But if all you do is buy green and organic without telling people about God's love (like the Pharisees who did all the right tasks but had no love on God in them) then what good are your works?

What do you think?