SIGNS OF BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS: 4. FAITH. (Homily for January 13, 2017. Friday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time).

Bible Study: Hebrews 4, 1 to 5 and 11. Mark 2, 1 to 12.


If you were asked to choose between two men picked at random from the crowd, the one who is born again and the one who isn’t, I guess, you will have a hard time knowing which. Dear friends, the one thing that distinguishes a born again Christian is the content of his or her heart – what we believe, the truths we hold on to and the values we cherish. In one word, it is our “Faith” that makes us different from the world.

Quite often, when the word “faith” is mentioned, there is a tendency for us to start thinking of how God is going to supply our needs in his abundance, or to start thinking of how we are to ask, to seek and knock and it will be given to us. We only think of Faith in terms of what we stand to gain from God but the truth is that Faith goes beyond all these. Your faith is your philosophy of life. Your faith is the summary of the values and truths that you consider unshakable. If I feel comfortable dressing half naked for instance, it is a statement of my faith; a statement of what I believe about covering my body.

Faith is what we believe about how best to live. There is a modern day crisis of faith among Christians. We claim to believe in God yet we live as if God does not exist. We go to Church to pray, we clap, we kneel, we speak in tongues, we even cry, raise our hands and worship. But when we step out of the Church, we forget that the same God to whom we have prayed to, also gave us commandments on how to live. Our actions betray our faith or to put it in a better way, our actions reveal our true faith. Our sinful actions reveal that we really don’t believe there is God and we don’t believe God can punish us for the wrongs we do. Our sinful actions reveal our true definition of God – a magic wand we wave each time we want some goodies; money, job, breakthrough, provision, healing and so on.

Faith is something visible. It cannot be hidden. In the story of the four men who brought their friend to Jesus through the roof, Mark tells us that Jesus SAW THEIR FAITH. (Mk 2:5) The action of these four men was a loud proclamation of their faith. Mind you, it was not only these four men whose faith were visible. Jesus also saw the faith of the scribes who were sitting there questioning in their hearts. The scribes said nothing but even in their silence, Jesus could see their faith – the fact that they did not believe Jesus had the power to forgive sins – the fact that they concluded Jesus was blaspheming. We may participate actively in the church, we may even be scribes or important personalities in the church but it is our faith (the content of our hearts), that matter.

Our faith, just like our sinfulness is always visible to God. The paralytic said nothing yet Jesus could see that his physical paralysis was child’s play compared to his spiritual paralysis. Hence, the first thing Jesus did was to absolve him of sins before going on to healing. The crisis of modern day Christianity is that we place so much emphasis on physical healing at the expense of spiritual healing. The truth is that every sin we commit is a direct report of how much faith we have in God. If we really believe God exists, then we would be too afraid to offend him and still act as if all is well.

Poverty is not a curse. It is living in sin that is a curse. It is not the will of God that every Christian should be a millionaire but it is the will of God that every Christian should live a sinless life. If there was anything wrong with being poor, then Jesus would never have chosen to be the son of carpenter or be born in a manger. The greatest lie in modern day Christianity is that faith and poverty are not compatible. That you have faith does not mean you can no longer be poor, or that you can no longer lack job, life partner or children and so on.

Faith is not a magical cloth that lifts you above troubles and difficulties in life, instead Faith is that which keeps you away from making choices contrary to the moral law. Jesus did not come to make us all millionaires, he came to make us all “perfect (sinless) as God is perfect.” This is the Good News. Just as the letter to the Hebrews testifies, this is a message that only requires faith to accept. Hebrews 4:2 “For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may my faith reflect on my choices in life. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.

Fr. Abu.


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