This thing that we call “the faith” is not
about you. It also is not about me. It is not about us.
I know, it is common to say things like, “Without my faith, I do not know what I would do.” When people say that, most people mean, “Without God, I do not know what I would do,” and that is just fine. But, some people actually mean what they are saying. Some people mean that without “their” faith they do not know what they would do…as if faith were something they accomplished over the years…as if it were some sort of badge of holiness that they now get to wear.
But, this thing that we call “the faith” is not about us.
Jesus was once asked about the most important part of this thing that we call “the faith,” and Jesus’ answer was:
“’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39).
This thing that we call “the faith” is first and foremost all about God. We love God because God first loved us. We love God because God created us. We love God because Jesus was sent to die for us and to raise us up to new life. We would not be here worshiping if it were not for God. It is not about us. It is about God.
Secondly, this thing that we call “the faith” is about loving those around us. When God was walking around, in the flesh, he loved, and taught, and healed, and fed his neighbors. His life was about caring for those around him.
So, as followers of Jesus Christ, our life of faith is similarly about loving our neighbors. It is about using the gift of time that we have been given by God for loving and caring for our neighbors in some way. It is not about us. It is about our neighbors.
Lent, then, is a time when we try to refocus our lives toward love of God and love of neighbor. And, we need this time of focus because, quite frankly, it is easy to get wrapped up in ourselves.
It is easy to become proud about what we donate or who we help. It is human nature to want a plaque commemorating our gifts.
I once visited a church where there was a plaque commemorating the gift of a phone right on the telephone receiver. I noticed it because the corner of the metal plaque dug into my hand! Ouch! Really? Did someone really need to be recognized for eternity because they gifted a $35 phone to the church?
It is not about us. This thing we call “the faith” is about God and neighbor.
Some people pray long, long, long prayers using very holy language. But, one of the most honest prayers I have ever heard was, “God, please help.” And, Jesus responded to little more than, “Lord, have mercy on me” before giving healing. The long, eloquent prayers, of course, are about how holy the person sounds to those around, and not about God at all.
It is not about us. This thing we call “the faith” is about God and neighbor.
Just this week, I read a post on social media in which someone was complaining both about the rising gas prices and the anxiety that the war in Ukraine was causing the person. “I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”
Someone with immediate family in Ukraine responded:
“Though I can understand how the gas prices and the war might cause people in the west some discomfort, I fear that such discomfort distracts from the very real threat to the life and existence of my family members still in Ukraine.”
It is not about us. It is about God and neighbor.
As we receive the ashes today, we hear the words, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is an acknowledgment that without God the dust that makes up our very being would have no life breathed into it, and without our neighbors that dust would have no purpose.
I, therefore, encourage all of us, myself included, to choose a Lenten discipline which focuses on either showing love to God or love to our neighbor…or both!
Take a moment right now to consider what might lead you to focus less on yourself and to focus more on God and your neighbor.
This is not about making you a great Christian in the end. It is not about succeeding or failing at a Lenten discipline. It is not about you at all. It is about finding something that we lead you away from that sort of thinking altogether, so that God gets the praise, and your neighbor gets the love.
After-all, this thing we call “the faith” is about God and neighbor.
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