Speaking vs. living my faith

"Maybe our preference for social activism reveals a more basic problem: that we don't really believe our neighbor's deepest need is to be forgiven and reconciled to God."

This is a statement expressed by an author in the January edition of Christianity Today, in which he argues that Christians today seem to have lost their desire to share their faith, over social engagement.

As one working in the secular world and as one interested in social engagement, the topic of the author's article caught my attention. These issues of living vs speaking my faith are ones that are not uncommonly on my mind.

How do I balance living my faith with giving more explicit expression to it? Is speaking my faith better (more effective?) than simply living my faith? Is a decision to emphasize living my faith vs speaking my faith “the easy way,” as some have suggested? Does my desire to make a difference in this world blind me to my neighbor's eternal destiny? (as the author of the CT article states.)

It may be easier these days to recruit believers to help with humanitarian-type projects than to get them to travel downtown to do one-on-one evangelism. But, I disagree with the author’s thought that this is somehow about a generation of believers who are shy about sharing their faith. Isn’t it possible, I thought as I read the article, that this may be more about people who are tired of words--who have found words empty? Or, about people who have tried the words, and whose unbelieving friends have found them empty? Isn’t it possible that emphasizing action over words is simply about trying to find a balance of real or practical faith?

Some suggest that we have not done our Christian duty until we have explicitly shared our faith (with words). But, when I look at the Bible, these are some of the key words or ideas that jump out at me related to our primary purpose: “blessed to bless;” “love God;” “love others;” "be salt;" "be light;" “make disciples.”

I can’t find an instance in the Bible in which everything is distilled to “convert people” or any examples in which speaking one’s faith is more important than living it. In fact, “blessing” others, “loving” others, and “making disciples,” etc. involves far more than merely preaching or speaking one’s faith—it would seem to require action as well. And, in fact, the life of Jesus on earth was filled with many examples of his providing practical and physical help to the people around him.

This issue of speaking vs living my faith is not one that I have mastered, and, again, it is one I frequently think about. And, there is probably a healthy tension between the two. Certainly we are not called to hide our faith, so living a double life in which I make no mention or provide any outward indication to my unbelieving colleagues/friends of my faith is not right. But, a genuinely lived faith can be a powerful example to those around us, even if we are not explicitly sharing the gospel.

This world (and the church) is desperately in need of Christians who care about the world and the people in it. Simply speaking our faith, without actions, won’t do much for people who need to see the practical application of faith in a real and painful world. If Christianity is about life to the fullest, life the way it was created to be, it will need much more than simply words to back it up.