Sunday, December 10, 2006

If we believed...

"The greatest difference between present-day Christianity, and that of which we read in these letters (of the New Testament), is that to us it is primarily a performance; to them it was real experience. We are apt to reduce Christian religion to a code or, at best, a rule of heart and life. Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we could achieve what they achieved." - J. B. Phillips (in the introduction to his New Testament translation)

This quote caught me off guard just two days ago. I challenged me. Do I view my faith as an act or a show or as a genuine experience? Perhaps, as Phillips suggests, the reason I, and so many other Christians whom I know, see so little of God's power is because we don't believe, in practical terms, that his power exists. I pray it isn't so.

1 comment:

Johan Maurer said...

Hello, Mike! Great to see you here in the Weblog community. I've signed up for your messages, too; it's been too long since I've had a steady diet.

Keep the faith,

Johan