Sociologist Brene Brown once said, “What we know matters, but who we are matters more." This applies to our understanding of Christian discipleship. As Christians, we often struggle with the balance between orthodoxy (right knowledge or doctrine) and orthopraxy (right practice or action). This is the challenge that James presents when he writes, “ But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” (James 2:18, NIV) Both right belief and right action are necessary in the life of a follower of Christ, but can one get in the way of the other? Historically, Baptists have been very good at communicating information about the Bible and the faith. They delight in asking questions of scripture that exegete the text in an attempt to understand the who, what, how, and why of the passage. We are less open to letting the text speak to us. For e...
Comments from a Christ-follower on things that matter to him