It all started with a thought, how do we do faith and life?
Both my Parents are in ministry (so yes, I am one of those coveted ‘PKs’ (aka Pastors / Preachers kid) – *wink wink* so coveted, that at the point of writing this I’m S.I.N.G.L.E. – go figure – LOL! I digress) I grew up in a Pentecostal Christian household, and was encouraged to study the Bible and live it out - that concept of studying the word so I could live it out became second nature to me. I grew up being active in the Church, you name it I was part of it – and literally with my family Church being about 40 people it wasn’t hard. But over time, helping lead Sunday School, leading a Connect Group, expanding my group of Christian friends and viewpoints, utilising the gifts and passions God has given me, has led me to creating Chats with Lou.
In its essence, Chats with Lou come from the very real, dogged desire to chat about faith and life in an honest, point blank, biblical way.
It seems today, the common practice for some Christians (or ‘followers of Christ’ if you are so enamoured with that term) is to compartmentalise our faith. We apply it a) when we want to b) when the right scenario crops up c) when people need us to, or d) when we need God’s help. Better yet, we rely on our feelings when it comes to dealing with issues – I ask, how many times have you said, read or heard someone say ‘…if it feels right then it must be right?'. Well I found myself asking more and more, what happened to ‘Have you prayed about it?’ ‘What’s God said about this?’ ‘Shall we pray about this?’ ‘Does this response/outcome/thought process mirror with what the Bible says?’...
Compartmentalising our faith can lead us Christians to doing faith, a) on a Sunday b) when we need something or c) when we want an answer, that falls in line with what we want. When it comes to all aspects of our day to day - from when we wake up, our thoughts, mindset, how we live out our day, how we deal with people, how we deal with trials, how we deal with the world around us all the way up until going to bed, – where is our faith in this?!
I have come to see as Christians, we either don’t know how to do faith and life, or we pussy foot around how to do faith and life. It’s almost like we do them separately and not together, which undermines the whole point of our lives. Our lives are underpinned, guided and need to be lived out in faith. If we separate our faith and life, and we don’t chat about that, we fall further into our faith and life being completely separate, and not entwined. They need to be entwined, with faith being the foundation and we as Christians need to understand the importance of that and essentially do that! As Christians, our life is a journey of being Christ-like, with the aim to be more and more Christ-like every day, in all of His capacity from ‘love thy neighbour’ (Matt 22: 39) to ‘do you think I came here for peace?’ (Matt 10: 34).
I’m direct. The Bible says what the Bible does, and I say it like it is. I don’t add/detract from the word of God, but like to help people understand it in a way that they can apply it to their lives.
With that, I believe there just needs to be some real honest conversations when it comes to our faith, that stick to the doctrine of the Bible - which is the word of God - that aren’t based on 'open to interpretation' foundation.
Let's learn the word of God, let's do the word of God, let’s enjoy our faith, let’s enjoy life...Let's chat.
Disclaimer:
One thing I would like to happily state as a disclaimer prior to the on-going reading of such life changing articles/posts and so forth on this site, is that, nope I am not an expert, and nope am I someone who is completely living to the highest of standards that God has for me, but I’m getting there more each day then I was before. The questions I raise, are very real questions, and my thoughts are very real thoughts. These articles are at times, just outpourings of conversations I am having with myself, God or friends, so I am asking myself these questions as well. But then there are some articles where I am very direct, because I’m directing my thoughts, behaviour and plans with the Word of God. At the end of the day, everything has to align with the Word of God and that’s the foundation of what I write, say and when I get the chance - teach. I am a commentator of life and the Word of God, and as long as it sticks to the Word of God it won’t hurt you to listen or to read ;-).
