When I started to follow Jesus, I wanted to do some great deeds so that (I thought) I could receive more grace from God. So I stayed in the church nearly in all of my spare time, attending all the services and gatherings, serving others in every gathering and bringing my roommates to study the course for seekers. Besides these activities, I kept reading the Bible and expressed prayers back in school.
As a new convert, I was eager to separate my old self with my new self, replacing my past life which I considered as sinful to me with a religious life.
Unfortunately, I felt tired after sticking to this kind of life for about a month for there was no time left for me to get along with my schoolmates and friends. I became weird and even rejected them in their eyes. As a result, they began to turn the cold shoulder on me. They could hardly talk with me for I spoke in a language full of religious terms, like old nature, new creation, spirit and sins. They believed that I had a negative attitude towards the world and wasn't full of confidence and felt the enjoyment of life as I used to.
I also sensed that I was becoming more and more lonely. All the things I did in the church were praying, sharing blessings, sharing what I learned from Bible reading and repentance of sin. Having little personal communication with other believers, I almost became an isolated individual.
As I couldn't stand my lifestyle, I started to reflect on my faith. Jesus' teachings in the Gospel showed me what Christianity is and where I was wrong.
Christian faith is a way of life. Therefore, believing in God doesn't mean to do something really big. Some small deeds can also represent our faith.
Jesus advocates to do small things for every so-called big thing comes down to small issues.
In the story of the famous widow who offered two small copper coins, Jesus was more pleased with her than others. "She put in everything --- all she had to live on." (Mark 12:44) Those rich people said that she donated too little money. They may offer hundreds and thousands of silver coins each time, who regarded themselves as VIP believers of God, but Jesus preferred her dedication because she worshiped God in spirit and in truth.
Perhaps it is more in line with Jesus' teachings that they take out part of their treasure to help the poor like the widow. So when the rich young man asked Jesus about the words of eternal life, Jesus told him to sell his possessions and give to the poor so that he would have treasure in heaven. When he heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. The way to express God your piety may be not through things. Sometimes it's also a good expression of your faith by helping the needed to the utmost of our abilities.
When the adults were hearing the word of Jesus, some parents brought their children to Jesus, asking him to pray for them. But the listeners rebuked them for disturbing Jesus' preaching as it's not allowed to interfere a serious religious site being conducted, let alone for some unimportant children. The disciples heard the word of Jesus as if attending a religious activity.
However, Jesus showed the opposite attitude. Rather than blame those children, he gave very high praise towards them, who were said to belong to the kingdom of heaven. It is true that hearing sermons matters, but what's the point of hearing word without love?
When a priest and a Levite passed by a half dead Jew indifferently, a Samaritan hated by the Jews gave a hand to him, sending the injured man to an inn and taking out his money to have him taken care of. Maybe the priest and Levite refused to save him out of certain religious objections, but this Samaritan helped him, who might perceive helping the needed as a normal thing.
The Pharisees criticized Jesus, who healed a man with a shriveled hand on day of the Sabbath, claiming that he went against the Sabbath, a holy religious date. But he said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. In other words, man is not made for religions.
In the Gospel, every conversation of Jesus leads to freeing from the bondage of religions.
It isn't a must to read the Bible every day and read the entire Bible for several times. Prayer and Bible reading of course count, but they are not the faith standard, seemingly so that the Holy Spirit will favor me more and be closer if I pray and read the Bible more.
In fact, Jesus believes that our seemingly pious practices are impious. Many times we use Bible reading and prayer as ways to win God's favor rather than draw life from them. So we stick to a strange way of life, for instance, we don't eat blood at meal while leaving Jesus aside in private. For one thing, we claim to believe in Jesus; but our families can't feel Jesus in us.
As Jesus wants us to be normal people, he also asks us to regard faith as a way of life. It is much better to help one person than pray deliberately for an hour and to keep company with your children for one day or to get a good sleep and rest than attend one-day gatherings with tiredness. We should not cope with religious activities while believing in God. That kind of belief doesn't speak from the heart, which displeases God.
When Elijah was on the mountain, he didn't hear God's voice in the wind, earthquake or fire. Instead, he heard a gentle whisper from God after those loud sounds. Jesus wants us to do small things in our life. Your simple smile may bring endless courage to others. Your giving what you can may help a man in deep trouble out. You cleaning a street may warm pedestrians passing by.
Don't get the idea that what you do is insignificant --- God is happy with everything that comes from your heart.
Doing a small thing according to Jesus' teachings matters than thousands of big religious matters. Faith is a way of life, normal, peaceful and loving.
Translated by Karen Luo
