Having Faith vs Being Faithful

Okay, so I've been a bit lackadaisical in my reading plan for the year. Here I am - weeks later - still reading The Resolution for Women. And, it's still really good.

I took a break from grading while my students were doing their "silent" reading to read for myself. I only read a few pages before I had to stop again. Another hard hitting chapter called Faith vs. Faithfulness. At first glance one may think, "But aren't they one in the same?" This, however, is not the case. Faith is usually much easier. As Priscilla so delicately puts it, "It isn't merely the comfortable, untested summary of someone's beliefs - her faith - but rather a physical outworking of her actions" (emphasis mine). So our faith is quite simply what we believe in while faithfulness is putting that faith into action. I've toooo-tally got the faith part down. It's the being faithFUL that I have a hard time conquering some days.

Make no mistake - people know I'm a Christian at work. They know what my FAITH is...but sometimes, I wonder if I really am faithful enough. Do I put that faith into action? Do I show people who Jesus is just by being me? I think, unfortunately, I know the answer to that. And I don't like the answer. Of course, we all have those days. The problem is when those days turn into those weeks and those weeks turn into those months and then those months turn into that year. My faith has been tested a lot this year and I am sad to say that through that testing, I haven't always been faithful. I could be wrong but faithfulness probably looks different to everyone. Similar...but with a few different strands tucked away.

My faithfulness includes digging into God's word (that's been hit or miss lately), thanking Him daily for everything, including the trials (I just might be getting there), keeping the whining, griping, and complaining at a minimum (oh, epic fail), and overall, being the kind of wife, mother, daughter, friend, teacher, and person that I am called to be (hey, I'm a work in progress). Along with my huge heap of goals to accomplish this summer, one of them is to really work on me as a person - not just on the outside but on the inside. Ultimately, when people look at me, I don't really want them to see me. I want them to see my Savior. I want them to want what I have based on how I think, speak, act, treat others, etc.

All in all, my goal is for me to decrease and Christ to increase. That is all.