Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: God's Equation

"What do you say to people who are disillusioned with the church?" I was guesting on the Mista Yu podcast this week when the host asked me this unexpected question.

My answer started with, "People get frustrated with the church when they don't see Christians walk the talk." In other words, when Christians don't put the most precious tenets of their faith into daily practice.

Guess what? God also gets frustrated when we don't walk the talk. It's right there in the Old Testament in Isaiah 58, where God gives the equation for walking the talk and how God will respond when we do.

God told the prophet Isaiah that the people seem interested in God but are actually rebellious. Isaiah 58:2 reads: "For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them."

But God declared at the end of verse 3 and through verse 4 that the people don't walk the talk. “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high."

Gulp! Does this sound like the reputation of Christians today? It only gets worse. God continued in verses 6 and 7: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

If you're familiar with the Bible, this sounds a lot like Matthew 25's Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, in which Jesus proclaimed that when he returns, he will divide the sheep from the goats based on how they treated other people, especially anyone who is in need.

Back to Isaiah 58, God promised in verses 8-11 that life will change if the people will obey his commands to care for the least of these: "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

A 2023 Time magazine poll determined that 67% of Americans are tired of divisions in our country; I can only imagine the percentage is higher now. But the way we try to solve those divisions is with "pointing fingers and malicious talk." That method is not working.

As we seek God's healing in our nation, it seems like we ought to get God's opinion. Isaiah 58 tells us that the answer isn't oppression, hatred, anger, and haughtiness; the way forward is kindness. Kindness in the way we treat each other. Kindness in how we lift up those in the most need.

If we want to walk the talk in our seven-day practical faith, we'll each start reflecting the goodness of Isaiah 58 in our lives each day. Perhaps then our light will rise in the darkness. Perhaps then we will attract others with the appeal of a well-watered garden. Perhaps outsiders will not be so disillusioned with the church, and such podcast questions will become irrelevant.

I need your help. While I'm thankful for people who have responded to my survey on how to strengthen your walk with Christ, I need more input to make better decisions regarding what to offer you. Please visit the five-question survey now at https://forms.gle/7LZpH8yCynEsRR5y9