Personally, I don’t believe in forcing my beliefs on anyone else. We’re all in this world to figure it out for ourselves, through whatever religion or lack of religion that may be. I don’t see harm, however, in letting others see what you’re doing and believing for sake of experience and knowledge.
The last week in Chapel they’ve been talking about being a witness to God, in connecting our words with our actions and going out into the world and living through Christ. I think I’ve always had a hard time with this. Being quiet, it’s hard to even voice where I’d like to go to dinner, much more explain and urge someone to go to church or preach God’s word or the way He’s impacted my life.
In my religion class the other day, my professor brought up a quote that I quite like to think about in times where I don’t feel adequate enough to serve the Lord and be a witness to Him. It’s by Francis of Assisi and it goes like this, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
This is powerful to me. As I mentioned before, being a witness is about connecting our words with our actions, assuming that we are starting with words, and ending in actions. That being said, perhaps being a witness isn’t dragging all of your friends to church and brining God into conversation with others (though it very well can be). Maybe it’s just as simple as living in kindness and love as He would like us to, as He made us. Showing people through your actions what you stand for, while wearing the name of a Christian, can be profoundly impactful on those who see you do your good deeds.
For me, I think the best thing I can do is bear witness for the great life that I’ve been given through Him. These posts are one way I do that, for slowly and slowly God is changing my life here at Hope. I hope that all of you readers are able to see that, whether you have known me before or not. I would like to think that I’m being a good witness to God and to Hope College through these blogs.
Thank you for reading as I ponder these BIG questions in my life. If you would like to share your experience as a Christian or your experiences in any other religion, feel free to comment.
If you have any questions for me you can contact me at brookelyn.wharton@hope.edu, through Facebook, or my twitter @hopebrooke18! I’d love to answer them!
~ Brooke