I urge you to lead a life worthy of the calling you have received, with perfect humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another lovingly. Make every effort to preserve the unity which has the Spirit as its origin and peace as its binding force. There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope given all of you by your call. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and works through all, and is in all.Ephesians 4: 1-6
Faith begins with a revelation from God of who we are and what we are called to be. What God reveals to us we could never discover by ourselves - that we are called out of nothingness for love. We belong to God. He created us so that he could love us for all eternity. The only way our humanity can grow to fulfillment is through love. Nothing else we do matters.
This truth flies in the face of the world's wisdom. The world may dispute it, or scoff at it, or ignore it, but until it accepts it, the world remains unfulfilled and unredeemed.
But for those of us who have been touched by the Word, and who have set out on the journey of faith, this truth becomes the driving force of our life. We see that our life is a pure gift, that it is filled with grace and promise. And so we live in sheer gratitude for the love of God.
But our faith is not a finished thing; it is a work in progress. We are not perfect. Sometimes our words and deeds do not reflect the grace that is in us. At times we are no better than the unredeemed. We fall short of what we are called to be.
The life of faith is a striving. We seek to lead a life worthy of our calling. We try to open ourselves to God and allow his love to transform us. We strive to make our life less about ourself and more about God, less about trying to be important and more about humility, less about trying to control others and more about gentleness, less about having things our way and more about patience, less about judging others and more about bearing with one another.
We strive to make our life an act of worship. We give ourselves to God who is Lord of our life, trusting that if we do his will, he will bring us to the perfection of eternal life.
God our Father, Creator of heaven and earth, you called us out of nothingness so that we could be your children and dwell with you for all eternity. May our every thought, word, and deed have their origin in you, and come to fulfillment under your guiding hand. May we be worthy of the love you have given us. And may we be bearers of your love to the world, that all may know that you are the God and father of all of us.