Tom Tripp – Guest Columnist
Faith is not just a matter of believing certain doctrines. Nor is faith simply a matter of observing prescribed rituals. Faith has to do with living out our trust in God—and living out trust in God will challenge us deeply from time to time.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once observed, “Cowardice asks the question: Is it safe? Consensus asks the question: “Is it popular? Conscience asks: Is it right?”
Living out our faith calls us to move beyond cowardice and consensus to the realm of conscience. Living out trust in the God who is fully good and fully loving compels us to grapple over and over again with the question: Is it right?
William Willimon shares an example: “Philip Haille wrote of the little village of Le Chambon in France, a town whose people, unlike others in France, hid their Jews from the Nazis.
Haille went there, wondering what sort of courageous, ethical heroes could risk all to do such extraordinary good. He interviewed people in the village and was overwhelmed by their ordinariness. They weren’t heroes or smart, discerning people. Haille decided that the one factor that united them was their attendance, Sunday after Sunday, at their little church, where they heard the sermons of Pastor Trochme. Over time, they became by habit people who just knew what to do and did it. When it came time for them to be courageous, the day the Nazis came to town, they quietly did what was right. One old woman, who faked a heart attack when the Nazis came to search her house, later said, ‘Pastor always taught us that there comes a time in every life when a person is asked to do something for Jesus. When our time came, we knew what to do.’”
Their faith had taught them to live in the realm of conscience and to ask the question, “Is it right?”
Ruth Haley Barton offers another variation of the question: “Is it right?” Barton writes, “In every decision we make we could hope that somewhere along the way someone will ask, “What does love call us to?”
The apostle John stresses, “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Since God is love, living out our trust in God compels us to ask the question, “What does love call me to do?”
Desmond Tutu advised, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
That’s how we live out our faith, and it is how faith can change our world for the good. ■
