Be a Practical Christian!

We are asked by our Savior Jesus Christ to be doers of the Word and not hearers. Life’s lesson: If you ask your child to do something for you and he listens to you and walks away doing nothing, how will that make you feel? Happy? I doubt it! Would you say that he really cares about you? I hope not!  What about if he behaves like this time and time again and yet he tells you and everyone how much he loves and cares for you; would you believe him? Many times we hear spouses say, ‘I asked you to buy this or that for me, and you did not. Do you even hear me when I speak to you?’ If you have watched the TV programs ‘Everybody loves Raymond’ and ‘Yes Dear’, then you have an idea what I am talking about. The Word of God asks us to be doers and not just hearers of the Word.

James explains this in details when he stresses, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well” but do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:14-26). Being a practical Christian does not mean just hearing the Word of God but it also means putting it into action.

In his book ‘Sunday Homilies’, Mark Link tells a story of a young man who applied to teach religion in a Catholic high school in India. When the principal asked him if he were a practicing Catholic, he replied: “No, I am a Hindu; but I know Catholic teaching thoroughly. I went to Catholic schools all my life. I’d gladly take a test to prove my competency.” The principal explained to the young man that the heart of Catholicism lay not in knowing Catholic teaching but in living a faith-filled, Catholic life”. On this note Christ reminds us that it is “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” Mt. 7:21). He goes on to stress that “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell; the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined” (Mt. 7:24).

So how can we be practicing Christians? Among other things, we must own and read the bible. The acronym ‘BIBLE’ can be translated to mean ‘Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth’. It is in the bible that we get to know what Christ expects of us. St. Jerome made an excellent point when he observed that “ignorant of the Scripture means ignorant of Christ. Then we must begin to put what we read from the bible into action. Take what you read personally and act on it. For instance, if you read in Mt. 5:23, “therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift”. If there is anyone in your life that you bear a grudge, well, take it that God is talking to you. Go and do exactly what the bible tells you do. If you read that you should share what you have with others, it makes perfect sense to me, if you do just that, share what you have with others. If you put one teaching of Christ into action a day, before the end of the year, you will certainly be on the path of righteousness. Do this today! Remember, “If today you hear his voice harden not your hearts” (Ps. 95).