FAITH FOR TODAY: Do you have parking lot faith?

This past Sunday I was leaving church after the morning services I was truly blessed.  Several folks were gathered around discussing their faith.  They were talking about their Sunday school lesson and drew me into their conversation.

How wonderful to hear church members wrestling with the word of God. It was just a parking lot after church, but it is a powerful picture to me of where our faith needs to live.  Sunday School rooms and  church sanctuaries are great, but let’s face it, even pastors are only there a small portion of the week.  Most of our life with God is lived outside those confines. Our faith needs to live and breath in the real world.

Whether it is in a parking lot or over lunch, whether at home or out in the classroom, whether in the workplace or in the grocery store, our faith should be something we carry with us everywhere.  You see parking lot faith is the real thing.  Jesus prayed for us saying, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15)  Jesus didn’t want us to pull out of the world, but to engage it.

Our faith in Jesus has implications in our daily lives.  Thinking about our faith and applying what we believe in our daily life is a revolutionary idea. This is the answer to Jesus’ prayer, that we be in the world, but safe from the evil one.  Our only safety is to live out the word of God in a world that truly needs to see our faith. 

I think we need more revolutionary believers who take seriously God’s commands.  Imagine a new standard for sexual purity established by committed young men and women in high school and college.  Imagine families insulated from financial ruin by applying God’s principles to manage money and avoid debt. Imagine believers who actually love other people so radically that we literally throw open the gates of heaven for them.  This is parking lot faith.

Parking lot faith is when we move out into our world and really make a difference.  Have you got parking lot faith?  Have you got faith that lives in your classroom? Faith that lives in your workplace?  Faith that can be found in your finances?  I hope so.  I pray that I might demonstrate a little more parking lot faith.