Individual Faith

I heard a preacher on the radio the other day, talking about faith. He mentioned the fact that we should never let another Christian’s faith substitute for our own.

Reading or hearing about other Christians’ faith can never take the place of faith in our own spiritual lives. Talking or writing about how good God was and is to others can never replace God’s goodness to us personally. We must pursue God on our own.

After hearing that preacher’s reminder, I immediately thought of this blog. I don’t want to become so consumed with reading and writing about other Christians’ walks with the Lord that I fail to cultivate my own walk with Him.

 

I was reminded of some quotations from my favorite book—Stepping Heavenward. (I am convinced this fictional autobiography is based on the life of a real person.) At one point in the story the main character, Katherine, contemplates the influence of spiritual mentors in her life:

“I do not now find it possible to get the instruction from him I used to do. I see that the Christian life must be individual, as the natural character is—and that I cannot be exactly like Dr. Cabot, or exactly like Mrs. Campbell, or exactly like mother, though they all three stimulate and are an inspiration to me.”

Katherine also makes this observation: “You may depend upon it that people are individual in their piety as in other things, and cannot all be run in one mould.”

I am grateful for these reminders about individual faith. We aren't all going to have the same experiences; we aren't all going to grow spiritually at the same rate. But as believers, we all have one uniting factor in our lives: our wonderful Lord.

So be encouraged, be inspired by the lives of Christians who have gone before you. But let that inspiration cause you to pursue your own individual relationship with Jesus Christ.