Faith Building Experiences : 3 lines to live by, 1 Reason why.
- Shelbey Townsend
- Feb 18, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 6
I don’t know much, but I know this - sometimes talking less says more.
I’m a collector of lines and mottos, short phrases that pack so much more than the letters used to write them. During my walk of life, the most significant faith promoting experiences can be summarized by a few, simple words:
1. “Low-Maintenance, High-Yield”, a personified Christian teaching.
I wasn’t an outstanding athlete, but my truest sense of competitive accomplishment came when I put more points on the board than turnovers.
I don't always need to be the first choice when people make fun plans or guest-lists, but I’ll live so they know I’ll be there if they need. Others have done the very same for me.
One of my proudest moments was when, in an exit-interview from a type of service I’d grown to appreciate, my administrator offered a, “I never had to worry about you.” I knew then, that I did my job.
A baseline for performance, a measuring stick for appropriate reactions. To aspire to be a low-maintenance, high-yield individual is not to shadow one’s own light, but use it to illuminate in the right ways.
The book of Matthew said it best:
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be
salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
A responsible ninety-and-nine made it possible for the Good Shepherd to go looking for the one.
Having spent time as both lost and responsible, I pray my faith building efforts in either role serve to bring myself and others closer to Him.
2. “Come what may, and love it,” a faith-building method.
An inspired Joseph Wirthlin can be given credit for such a simple, profound directive.
To love the good is often easy, that’s why we refer to it as good.
To love the hard and sad and testing, however, is to trust the One Who sent it.
We don’t love whatever comes because it’s comfortable or appealing. We can love it for what it can do for us. This type of faith building skill is a gift that keeps giving.
3. “Give the most of what you have least,” a proven process of building faith in Christ.
The way to increase is to give it freely - Patience, love, obedience, grit.
The beautiful contradiction in this Gospel of Christ is the following - if you don't have much, the only way to increase is to give it away.
Selflessness is the giving of one's self, and others need parts of you. The side effect of this type of faith in Christ is neat - "Filled with love toward God and all men." (Mosiah 2:4)
The best way to get is to give.
One Reason Why: Jesus Christ
I didn’t make these principles up. These one-liners and many other truths are derivatives of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.
He is the light of the world, doing far more good than anyone who pro- or preceded Him.
He smiled and paused on His path when He was met with sinners and faithful followers.
The one thing that was His was given away, swallowed up in the will of His Father.
Much like these short phrases, His life was simple, lived in a way we could remember.
The One Who was sent to save you and I and from our sins and ourselves taught more in a few sermons and a handful of years than any could do in lifetimes of trying.
Perhaps there is something to saying, doing, and being “less” - In the Gospel of Christ, it could equate to much, much more.
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