Solve the Problems ...

Friday, Oct 17, 2014. What is one of the characteristics of the people in the bible who are described as examples of faith? They have faith, of course. And their faith leads them to do good things. They trust the Lord. They follow his advice. They reflect his grace.

Do it likewise! …

We are called to do it likewise. We are called to speak, called to step up, called to do what he has told us to do. It is not something special, since he gave the command to the church, to all Christians. But it is something special, since many people do not follow, and they do not experience his grace, his truthfulness and his mercy.

There is enough to do. When you take part in political discussions, it becomes clear very soon that we have to do our homework on all levels of our social interaction. We need to tune our systems - the environment for businesses and people to work, tax system, public services. We need to work on education. In Germany, the classical school system still relies heavily on the family (mostly women) to be there in the afternoon taking care of all different types of things for the school kids.

But we also need to work on the problems on a global scale. We have suppression and religious trouble in many parts of Africa, the middle east, but also in Asia. We find wars and dictatorships in too many states. It will be a long process to bring any change to that! But there is no other way than working on it.

Work in the Spirit of Jesus! …

We need to work in and with the spirit of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. God himself tells us how to resolve the problems. Of course, there will be heavy conflicts. As long as you have people killing for their particular faith, there will not be peace. But as Christians we are called to peace. We are called to love the Muslims, the atheists, the Buddhists and all other people in this world. We are called to honour them, to give them full acceptance and support in our societies.

Of course, we are not called to believe in the islamic faith. The image they have of God and of Jesus is not fitting reality. God is God in father, son and holy spirit. We are not justified by works, but by grace in Christ Jesus. Love and truth are guiding ethics which fit what God does. We are called to tell the Muslims, that Jesus invites them to come to him, that God wants them, but that Mohammed is not his prophet. We sincerely disagree about who God is and how God deals with this world! But that should not keep us from treating each other respectfully.

I think that the Christian world should wake up and be more clear and straight when it comes to living faith and talking about faith. Of course, our faith has become partly diluted by many secular arguments, which reflect the “Zeitgeist”, the spirit of our time. Let us find back to the core Christian viewpoints, to the spirit which is the Lords, the spirit which Jesus sends.

And then let us work on the problems. The biblical examples tell us that a lot is possible when we believe. Believing that God will support us, will help us, and will make things possible which seem unbelievable at the moment, is part of faith. He is trustworthy, and he has told us to go. Let us follow him! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts