Faith Venture

I have growing appreciation for John’s (the apostle) Greek usage. I don’t speak or read Greek, so I rely on experts. A few months ago I learned where John made up a Greek word to describe faith (as “leaning toward”).

This week I was listening to a speaker (now this may have been Jesus’ use of Aramaic, which also I don’t speak) who talked about a command Jesus left us recorded in John where he changed a noun into a verb. “Love one another,” he said.

You are not in love; you do love.

There is an old Christian folk song, “Love is something you do; love is something you do. Not always something that you feel, but it’s real.”

Modern psychological researchers have discovered something that Jesus already knew. In fact, it’s also ancient wisdom. Actions come first, feelings follow. Even if you don’t feel loving, your actions will lead you to be loving.

What cost is a smile? No matter how you feel. When your smile is reflected back to you, your spirits are lifted.

When you serve others–maybe just opening a door for a harried mother, or buying a meal for someone, or giving your coat to a homeless person–that loving feeling follows.

Now let’s go out and live into Jesus’ command. Love others.

This is the 500th post to this blog. I sort of played around with it for a while, then got serious a couple of years ago. I appreciate all the comments either here or by email or Facebook or Twitter.

Rummaging around for a quote for Yoga class last night, I ran across this one from the Greek philosopher Aristotle:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

You just need to keep doing the best you can and pretty soon that becomes a habit. Just like a morning routine. Or, like service.

In the U.S., we have stop lights at most intersections. To expedite traffic flow (well roundabouts are better, but we won’t go there), it is usually legal to turn right on a red light after stopping and checking for oncoming traffic.

I noticed some time ago that if the light is changing and I have space, I’ll move into the left lane if there is no one in the right. In that way someone behind me who wishes to turn right can do so without waiting for the light to cycle.

Someone else just wrote that they noticed someone else who does that. Out of habit. One little service to others.

So I wondered, do we make serving others a habit? Not necessarily one big annual go out and do something. But in several daily acts, repeated every day. In other words, is serving others an act? Or, a habit?

I think of all the times that Jesus served in little ways (well, for him little) even when it distracted him from what he was doing or where he was going. He stopped and served. It was a habit. Part of his life.

From these habits of service weaves a pattern of a Christ-like life.

Do you have a call? Are you sure you are following it?

Through different periods of my life, I’ve paused and asked God to let me know his calling for me. I’ve done many different things. I hope some of them were what God wanted. Listening is part of my daily routine.

So, it was either interesting or timely that I received a little brochure from an organization that I support financially called Lumunos. Sometime in the early 70s I ran across a little magazine titled after the organization that published it–Faith@Work. I never made it to one of their small group weekends, but the magazine was a source of nourishment for probably 30 years or more.

The organization has shrunk some. Finances forced the closing of the magazine. It still publishes a small version and has a blog. It’s worth checking out.

I searched the Website and didn’t find this brochure on it. So I’ll just give you some of the wisdom.

The Top Ten Reasons to Listen For and Follow Your Call

10. You will be less busy. (Following your call may mean saying no to many things that distract you from your call.)

9. You will have more energy. (From Isaiah 58:11, “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”

8. There will be less chance of burning out. (Henri Nouwen, “God does not want you go destroy yourself. Exhaustion, burnout, and depression are not signs that you are doing God’s will.”)

7. You will be more fun to be around. (As we do God’s will, we will have more joy.)

6. You will feel less stress. (Following call invites us to trust that we are not the ‘saviors’ of the world.)

5. You will be more creative. (When creativity is flowing, it is often a sign of call.)

4. You will be less fragmented. (Call is about the whole of our lives, and it brings the pieces together.)

3. You will have more good friends. (Common interests creates friendships.)

2. You will do less sleepwalking through life. (It requires that we pay attention to what is going on outside us and inside us.)

1. The world begins to look more the way God intends. (Frederick Buechner, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”)