I really like the IDEA of blogging...

I have not be very consistent with this blogging thing.  Maybe it is almost not really a "thing" anymore.  However, here I go with another try.  Stop by from time to time to see what's new and what is news.

I think it is a common tendency for us to like the IDEA of things.  Exercise sounds like a good idea.  Eating a healthy breakfast is a good idea.  Finishing that project around the house would be a great idea.  You get the idea.  Good ideas, all. Yet I routinely find myself glued to my easy chair, eating pop tarts and wishing someone would finish that project for me.

For these sorts of ideas, the potential damage is rather limited and easily corrected.  But when it comes to our faith, liking the idea is no faith at all.  The potential damage is a soul lost for all eternity.    In fact, faith is not an idea at all.  It is a relationship, a lifestyle and a decision.

I start with the most important part--the relationship.  We must have a relationship with the God Whom we claim to worship.  He is not an idea.  He has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We get to know Him and develop a deeper relationship with Him as we pray and worship.  This could be compared to talking with our friends:  keeping in touch, listening, hanging out and supporting one another.
 
What can we do to make sure that our relationship with God is alive and well?  Reading the Bible is certainly necessary.  The Bible is like a love letter from our beloved.  If your sweetie put to pen his/her feeling for you and you never bothered to read them you'd be in deep trouble.  It would be quite insulting.  I dare say, it might be the beginning of the end of that relationship.

As we get to know our God better, especially through His Son Jesus, we learn how to live that faith relationship.  Witnessing to the faith by what we say and do is a sign that our faith is real and not just an idea.  Pope Francis calls us all to be Missionary Disciples, expressing our inner beliefs by reaching out to others, especially those most in need.

Don't let your faith be an idea.  Don't even relegate it to the realm of ideals.  Live with Jesus each day and a wonderful loving relationship is yours.