Living God - RRT

What a theme I chose for this month! Yes I know that God is Living, I experience His presence with me constantly, but ... As I sat and tried to write something, I started and stopped and then tried again another day. And still didn’t get very far, until today. I receive lots of emails and many of them are quite funny and it was one of these that set me thinking.

The story goes that an atheist was out in the forest admiring the trees and the rivers and the scenery generally around him when he is confronted with a bear. A huge bear … like a 7 foot Grizzly! Now as atheists don't believe in God, what could he do, well he couldn’t pray now could he!

Anyway, he has a conversation with God about him ignoring God all these years and now when his life is in danger, he suddenly believes? Realising that he would be hypocritical to expect God to accept him now, he asks God to make the bear a Christian instead.
The bear then thanks God for the meal set before him and the email ends.

This got me thinking. We Christians purport to belong to the living God. We attend worship and say with our mouths that we believe in the Living God, but our day‐to‐day lives do not show that we are Christians. In Julie’s article in this issue she talks about a guy who says that He can feel the love all around at CareWorks. This is amazing that He can feel God’s love
surrounding Him. This love can only be felt from a Living God.

As Christians who want to share the saving grace of God with our friends and family, we need to take hold of the Living God and let Him live in and through us. I know that I let what is happening all around me pull me down and I don’t let the Living God shine in and through me. It is a daily challenge that I confront head on.

A friend of mine went to work in a business and decided that if they knew she was a Christian they may treat her differently from what they might otherwise do. So she decided not to use the “God talk” that she was so used to using with her Christian friends. After she had been at the place a while, one of the workers asked her what was different about her? She answered that she didn’t know. Then her workmate said, “There is something different about you, you are calm, and serene against all the odds, you’re a Christian, aren’t you? My Grandma was a Christian and she behaved just like you.”

The old song that we used to sing years ago springs to mind, “And they will know we are Christians by our love”.

Belief in the Living God is not enough, it must be evident in how we live. Serving the Living God enables us to live out His love and exhibit it to the world around ‐ to our family, friends, workmates and indeed to the people we meet where ever we go. This is our challenge to live by constantly and show the world the Living God.

James 2:18 says: But someone will say, “One person has faith and another actions.” My answer is, “Show me how anyone can have faith without actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions.” (GNB)