Incontrovertible Faith

I adore words! The love of words is in my genetic code, I think. My mom is a crossword puzzle “genius” and my paternal grandmother used to solve crossword puzzles in pen! I think my interest in words was fed and nurtured through all the years of my childhood when my mom told us to “look it up” every time we asked her how to spell a word! Those were the days (waay back in history!) when a dictionary – a book with a cover and many hundreds of actual pages – were our resource for word spellings and meanings.

This love affair with words explains why I became a writer, I imagine – it’s just a natural progression. To that end, I subscribe to a “word a day” through ezines@arcamax.com. Yes, I actually have a “word” emailed to me every day. Today’s word is incontrovertible. It means “impossible to dispute; unquestionable.”

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. [1 John 4:15 NIV]. My faith in Christ as Savior, the Promised One in history, the Messiah is incontrovertible! It is just not something I argue about. I don’t argue because for me there is no debate! I don’t argue or debate it because to engage in an argument or debate means that one party convinces the other of their point of view.

I know!!! What about discipleship? What about broadcasting the Good News to the ends of the earth? That’s not the same as arguing! You see, debate and argument are matters of the head—the mind. Faith is a matter of the heart. My faith is incontrovertible. And it’s not something I argue about with others. I will never be convinced that Christianity is a lie or that the Bible is fiction.

That doesn’t mean I deny my faith or try to cover up the fact that I am a Christian. I am who and what I am because I AM a Christian. My faith defines how I live my life – every aspect of my life. I have lost free-lance writing jobs – and even a nanny job – because when the potential employer visited my website it was obvious to them that I am a Christian.

I’m not even going to call those situations persecution. They are not at all! But I won’t change the information on my website in order to get more work or to be thought of in a certain way either. My Christianity is important to me but more than that, it defines how I would be and am as an employee, contractor and a person. I have a great deal of integrity; I am honest and fair to a fault. I have an impeccable work ethic and expect the same of others. I am kind and generous, loving and compassionate. I always try to do the right thing.

Ah . . . but don’t think I’ve listed anywhere on my website or in any biographical or demographic information about myself that I am a sinner. I won’t document the numerous ways I sin on a regular basis, but suffice it to say I am flawed, broken and imperfect. That truth is also incontrovertible. That is why I try very, very hard to be as good a Christian as I can. My sinfulness is also what keeps me very humble and deters me from judging others.

My life, like my faith, is pretty straightforward.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:37-39 NIV]