To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the Christian story is so unlikely that it must be true. It's too strange to have been made up.
If you were going to make up a story about a god, you would probably choose a god that is so powerful that it controls everything to the Nth degree. Everyone would bow down to this god without choice. Everything on earth would operate perfectly according to its will. There would be no questioning such a god; only destruction would lie ahead for disbelievers. Each of us would be mere pawns in this god's chess game.
But this is not the Christian story at all. Instead, we proclaim that God came to earth as a human, born in a barn and crucified on a cross. This God-in-flesh did not force anyone to accept his claims; instead, we have free will to choose our beliefs and actions (I acknowledge Christianity varies across denominations on how much free will we have and how much is orchestrated by God, but I press on). This God-in-flesh talked about God's love and showed how the world operates in opposite fashion of how God thinks and wills. Instead of craving and grabbing absolute power over governments and empires, this God-in-flesh sought people's hearts and offered himself up as a sacrificial lamb.
This is the Christian story. A seven-day practical faith is about how we respond to it.
When we trust the story and understand God's love for us, we realize the supreme importance of God and how much we owe to God. Amazingly, Jesus didn't just live and die and go away; instead, he promised his Holy Spirit would live with us and be our guide.
A seven-day practical faith is how we put our beliefs into practice, how much we choose to conform to God's upside-down will, how much we listen to and trust daily the Spirit that lives within us. It's about learning and following Jesus's commands, especially to love God and neighbor. It's fulfilling Jesus's vision for each of us to carry a light that shines God to others, attracting them to participate in this story like moths to a benevolent illumination.
Our faithful actions during our brief time on earth help carry and multiply knowledge of the story. God's kingdom doesn't evaporate if we fail to do so. But if we respond in faith, then we reveal God's kingdom and God's wisdom to earthly and spiritual powers alike.
This blog is about how we implement a seven-day practical faith. I hope you'll explore past and future posts at CecilTaylorMinistries.com/blog and on the Cecil Taylor Ministries Facebook page, as well as exploring other materials offered through Cecil Taylor Ministries to assist your practical faith walk.
A good start, especially on social media, is to like this post so that social media will more frequently advise you of future posts. Social media algorithms do not guarantee that all of my followers receive every post, so please engage with such posts by liking, commenting, and sharing to advise the program that you want to see more posts like this.
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