{{2012_11_27_t1.jpg}} {{2012_11_27_t2.jpg}} {{2012_11_27_t3.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2012_11_27|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_iv|| Topics Collection iv ]] ======"Her faith is good for me" ...====== Tuesday, Nov 27, 2012. Does it help me, if someone believes in God? What is the influence of faith, and what does it mean for the other people around a believer? That is a topic which needs discussion - as we will see in a moment. {{2012_11_27.jpg }} **What does faith change for others? ...** What does faith change? When someone comes to faith, what will change in his life? Will he or she change her behavior towards the others? Depending on your experiences, you will come with very different answers. "Faith" or "believe" is not equal to "believe". You can believe in different things, and faith can mean different things for you. Often, the religious right is in the public. People who have extremely conservative attitudes talk about faith, and the impression is that Christian faith is linked to a strong conservatism. Is that how faith changes people? Does it turn them into conservatives? There are those who use faith to support a very narrow world view. They use faith, even misuse faith, to support bans and prohibition on this or that. At some point in time it was considered a sin to dance or drink wine. But that is not the faith which the bible invites us to. It is not the faith and attitude of Jesus. He drank wine, he even supported a marriage by turning a large amount of water into wine. The "Lord's supper", one of the Christian sacraments, is about bread and wine! Jesus did not support narrow world views, but a wide view of support and balance, justice and love. {{ 2012_11_27_2.jpg}} **The influence of Jesus ...** Christian faith can be extremely helpful for the environment of a believer. I have seen how the Christian spirit can change the life of people, and influence whole families and communities. If someone lives with the Lord and is influenced by his holy spirit, a process of forgiveness and healing takes place. God gives balance into our life. He provides acceptance. He loves us, and his love is a strong fortress. What ever happens, challenges and difficulties, when you are strongly loved in his gentle way, that helps to reconsider the difficulties and find solutions to the challenges. It is good to have a strong believer in your team, he or she will have an open ear for the others. He or she will work towards forgiveness and sustainable solutions. That will help everyone! Jesus has good influence on people. That does not mean that every Christian would be perfect. It does not mean that there would be no conflicts in churches or in groups with Christians. We all fail in many things. We are all far behind of what Jesus wants us to be, in his spirit. But we are learning. We are on a way of pilgrimage. We are moving forward towards him, and in Jesus we are already fully justified, fully his children, fully forgiven. Yes, faith of the others is good for me, very good indeed. (Roland Potthast) [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_iv|... more texts]]