am i nuts to think that out faith should actually impact others?

i just finished reading chapter 0 in brian mclaren’s generous othodoxy, the chapter in which he warns the reader that he is under the impression that orthodoxy (aka right thinking/beliefs) should in some way lead to orthopraxy (aka right living/action).

having been a christian for 7 years now, i am finally developing a clear view of the landscape–the Church has done an alright job of impressing upon us the need for personal transformation (as well it should), but our idea of faith in western christiandom has come to little more than moral living and political alignment.  this has bugged me for some time, but i haven’t been able to put a finger on it until now.

we have fooled ourselves and disavowed knowledge of the mission God has us on if  we think personal salvation is the point of this whole shabang.  intervarsity (the org i work for) puts the mission this way:

transform people

renew your surroundings

develop people who will change the world

and while no one would argue with the idea of those three points, do we really expect to live those out? i mean, what space do we have in our individualistic, self-focused, consumer christianity to live our the idea that we are supposed to be agents of renewal in the places we find ourselves?  this would take sacrifice, compassion, it would be messy, and we would struggle with our faith in new and fresh ways.

if every christian just took a look around, they would realize there are all sorts of people they interact with on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.  in fact, we would see that each of us has a sphere of influence that stretches further than we could believe.  people are watching us, waiting for us to do/say something, living in anticipation of how God might be viewed through our lives.

and yet we have our noses buried in the latest christian self-help book, wondering why we have very little sense that God is active in our lives.  please set down your latest version of wild at heart and start to live it.

its ok, just set it down. look around.  take a deep breath.  and talk to you co-worker, daughter, neighbor, or friend.

you have no idea what a big deal this is.