He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your Lord. -- Micah 6:8
Everyone has a personal faith. Some people place their faith in traditional religions while others collect what they like from various religions and develop their own personal brand. Sometimes people put their faith in social or political actions. Still others place their faith in progress or technology, that is the future. Not everyone has a well thought out faith, not everyone recognizes what their faith is, but everyone lives by some sort of faith. So what is faith? It is belief in something you can't prove. That's not to say that faith is irrational, and doesn't have evidence that suggests our conclusion.
I grew up in a reform Jewish home, but became a follower of Jesus in my college years. I say a follower of Jesus rather than Christian because in the mind of many people, the term Christian is link to very un-Christian images. A nice attempt to recapture the word Christian was the poem by Carol Wimmer entitled When I Say "I am a Christian". Saying that you are a follower of Jesus brings front stage that the Christian faith is centered on a personal relationship with God. This relationship is based on Jesus paying the debts we owe. God requires justice, but He is also loving and compassionate, providing a way for us to return to Him. He was willing to stand in for the punishment, the judgment we were due. There is nothing we can do to earn His favor. In fact, out attempts to earn God's favor are describe in the Bible as presenting God with filthy rags. God merely wants us to humbly acknowledge the evil that is in our lives, and to thank Him for paying our debt.
The life of a follower of Jesus is spent learning about who Jesus is, understanding His love, and letting His love set them free to live a meaningful and loving life. As you grow to know a friend, and to appreciate them, your life changes a bit and you take on some of their characteristics. A follower of Jesus will slowly have their life changed so that it looks more like the life of love that Jesus lived. Not because they are now following an external set of rules like the Ten Commandments, but because they have love in their heart. Book of Galatians which can be found in the New Testament of the Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit, that is the result of God working in a Christian's life, should be love. Then this book goes on to enumerate what this love looks like: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Jesus himself said that people will know we are His followers the love which is manifest in our lives.
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