What faith Does for You By Ralen Robinson

What faith Does for You By Ralen Robinson

Someone once told me that it’s not what and who you are but it is the content in your heart that matters. And that saying has stuck with me throughout the years- making me angrier and angrier as I recited it to myself.  The words told me as a child was told to bring me comfort and it brought me further from it. The intended ease was actually pain as I saw who and what people are- matter more than the content of their heart. The supposed soothing saying opened my eyes to an unjust world. A world where we care more about the outer shell of people then we do their inner. A world where one is judged by simply their appearance. An appearance that tells a person if they are good and bad, right or wrong, acceptable or not. Thus, I want to amend that saying said to me to this “To the world it matters who and what you are but to God you are loved in every version. Despite it all God sees your heart and your brother and sisters sees you.”

These are the words I wanted to hear. These are the words Paul says to the Galatian Church in our reading today. He tells the church in Galatia who are struggling with obeying and following the laws and the ways that they need to do better. The people were adopting other traditions and customs and forgetting their own. Paul tells the people they received the Spirit by believing the declaration about Christ being crucified and not by doing works of the law. He reminds them that they no longer needed to observe Jewish customs because when Christ came down and rose again we became children of God through faith. And is with this faith we are baptized in Christ there is no longer Greek or Jew, male or female, and neither slave or free. When you are baptized in Christ the division of the world are obsolete. Through our faith there are no other dividing factors that others the people. When you have faith, you should no longer see differences but be on one accord. For when Jesus taught us that being on the outskirts, marginalized and lowly they are equally our siblings in Christ. Thus, we don’t have the authority to decide who is deserving of God’s grace. Because it is through God alone that we see Gods children as they are. That the people we encounter are equally as much of Gods children as us.

This is imperative in the world we live in today when division is constantly breaking us down. A world full of putting people in boxes and assigning preconceived expectations. When Christ saw the people who were expected to be the other? What was is it that he did? Did he cast them aside like the rest of society? Did he see that they were anything less than deserving of love? What I tell you here that those were the exact people he sought out to be with and show what understanding and compassion really is. So, we don’t rely on expectation, assumptions, preconceived notions, and false ideologies to cloud our thinking.

The text tells us that through faith we are all the same, we are all on one accord. Paul reminds us in the letters to the Galatian Church that when we have faith we see that there are no differences.

When we have faith, we are not limited to what people expect of us

When we have faith, we have an understanding of what God sees in us

When we have faith, we are not bound by race

When we have faith, there is no color

When we have faith, it doesn’t matter how much wealth you acquire

And When we have faith, we are set free

To have faith… is to have understanding that we are born as we are perfectly imperfect and that God still comes into our lives regardless of it all. To have faith is to embrace our mission in Christ. To interlock our arms to whomever is near. Having faith is not easy and at times we will fall short but remember what Paul gives the biblical Church that even through hardships, difficulties and anything you may experience Christ it still there embracing you and leading you to live an inclusive life. Where we hold our neighbors that aren’t who we intentionally surround ourselves with but are those who are children of God in the world we live. To have faith is to hold out your hand, willing and ready to take it for they are as much your sibling in Christ as you see your brother, your sister, your friend, your mother, your father, and your partner. For we are all the same in Gods eye. So, I say again, it is important to remember, “To the world it matters who and what you are but to God you are loved in every version. Despite it all God sees your heart and your brother and sisters sees you.”

Amen!!!