Our love for God, our faith in God must be lived out through everyday words and deeds. Faith is not an intellectual pursuit. Certainly, we can think about God and ponder God's power and creation- but faith cannot stay in our head. Faith overflows from our hearts into our everyday lives. Our faith should be evident to the world by the way we love one another.
James says in chapter 2 that faith without works is dead. 1 John tells us that anyone who claims to love God but hates his brother or sister is a liar. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with our entire being, and followed it up with another commandment, that we are to love our neighbors. Our love of God, our faith in God must lead to a life of service. We may serve out of a pulpit or in the school districts. We can serve from the back of a garbage truck or in the CEO's chair in the boardroom. We serve our families, our friends, and are even called to serve (and love!) our enemies. Christianity is not so much a system of belief as it is a way of life.
When the day comes for my funeral- people are not going to say, "Look at his grasp of Trinitarian Theology" or "Look at how much (or little, I'm a pastor!) money he made." My hope is that they say "Remember how he loved God and how much Steve loved each one of us."
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