Responding to a “pew to pulpit” question:
How does one explain faith to a person who has little or no faith? How do you help them understand faith and why it is so important?
With this, we must consider how we create and grow faith, how and why we care for it, and how and why we go about sharing it.
How We Create and Grow Faith
Most of us begin life with an empty faith. We don’t know of or about any sort of God. We might have a feeling deep-down inside us that there is a greater being here. But a seed has to be planted somewhere, somehow, from someone or something.
The source of that planting can come from many different people. That’s why we as teachers, parents, grandparents, friends, aunts, uncles and as Christians have to be careful with the actions we take and the words we say. Who knows what time or moment will instill a long-lasting impression upon a child, a friend, a stranger or a coworker? Maybe, just maybe, we are the one that is commissioned with planting the seed of faith upon the heart and soul of someone else.
How and Why We Care for our Faith
Faith is like a muscle. If we don’t use a muscle, it will atrophy. If we do not use our faith enough, recognize it enough, or understand it enough, then that too will assuredly begin to wane. We need to find ways to care for our faith, nourish it, and ensure that it is being fed.
The biggest way to accomplish that is a continual presence in a church community, and especially within worship. We should also make a commitment to reading, understanding, and studying of God’s Word (the Bible). Plus, we should have a decent amount of prayer in our life too.
We build our faith through studying, prayer, and involvement in a Christian community. Naturally, just like a classroom, some of us learn differently than others, so we have to take that into account when it comes to our own personal faith.
How and Why We Share Our Faith
God wants us to share our faith with others. Just as we attain our faith differently, we grow and care for it differently, and we share it differently.
Of course, it’s easy to share something with someone when you have a lot in common. It’s not always so easy to share your faith with someone who has none. Still, share! Muster up the courage to speak boldly and confidently about your faith.
People naturally want to share that which brings them joy, courage, comfort, love and peace, and our faith provides those things. So tell that story. And watch it take you back to the first point of how we create and grow our faith. It’s a beautiful circle.