Receive - Believe - Teach - Practice: A Powerful Vow

    

“Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are
    Believe what you read
    Teach what you believe
    Practice what you teach”

In 2005, I witnessed a ceremony to ordain Deacons in the Catholic Church.  Part of the liturgy was especially powerful to me and I have remembered it and treasured it all these years. It is a vow I have embraced as my own.

Receive -

A thing may be offered or available to many, but that doesn’t mean that it is received. When a person receives something, they embrace it with purpose, with faith. A sense of ownership and purpose is evidence that one has truly received something. A herald is an official messenger who brings good news. A secondary definition is that a herald is a person or thing viewed as a sign that something significant is about to happen. Each of us who have received Jesus as our Lord and savior are commissioned as His witness. We herald the hope and power of Jesus to bring life and transformation. As a pastor, an author, even simply as a friend, I am a herald of the good news of Jesus.

Believe –

We must mix our faith with what we read in scripture and hear from God. Faith is the spark that ignites knowledge and brings it into experience. To believe something is to be convinced of its reality. Belief, or faith, is often described as a feeling; it is also a choice. The aspects of scripture and of the character of God that we have experienced causes our faith to increase, we become convinced; we believe. This faith forms a foundation on which we then choose to believe, as truth, those aspects of scripture which we have not yet experienced.

Teach –

Jesus said that He came to give us abundant life. When we speak His words to others, they carry the same life-giving power that Jesus words did when He interacted with people. We teach what we are convinced of, what we believe! Because our words are mixed with faith in Jesus, they bring the confidence and power of Jesus and our experience of Him.

Practice –

The most crucial and elementary expression of our beliefs is our actions. What we do, how we treat people and how we live will speak louder than even our words. As Christians, our lives reveal the truth and availability of relationship with Jesus.

The greatest calling is to live in such a way that you give away to others what you have received.

This simple vow is powerful; it is the great commission. The promise and light of Jesus are spread by those of us who have received and embraced with faith the life He has offered. As we teach and demonstrate those truths to others, they can in turn receive it.

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