For many years I focused on believing. Throughout college and seminary and the ensuing 5 or so years of “full-time” ministry I was enamored with and focused on presenting correct belief. What are the right ways to conceive of and discuss and comprehend the subject of Christianity.

I think this is pretty normal. No, I would say this is important and it is appropriate.

But the day comes when what we believe and the faith as understood in our head faces a crisis. Our faith diluted down to individual categories and systems looks great on paper but under the scrutiny of a full-blown crisis sometimes our beliefs can ring a bit hollow. The complexities and perplexities of life enter the picture forcing us to reconsider or even alter our belief system.

In my life it was at this point that a new realization hit. Christ came not only sharing a belief system (what I put my faith in) but also a way of life (priorities, practices and performance).

The Christian life is both a belief system and a way of life. I not only develop my faith by getting the “Story in order” but also by finding myself “in the story.” My faith is fed and tested and nurtured by both right believing and by right living. Both are needed. They feed each other and they stimulate one another growing us up into God’s image. (When I learned to live in congruence with my intellectual understanding of my Christian faith it moved me from a posture of arrogance about my rightness to a position of humility as I attempted to stumble forward in the way of Christ and his followers.) On this basis I propose it is not about believing as much as it is about be-living. The sense that we need to be concerned about who we are (being) and this is certainly understood as we ascertain our identity and our heritage. There is also an equal concern about how I am behaving and representing myself (living) and this comes into focus as I follow after Christ’s way of life. [Isn’t this the purpose of the final parable of the Sermon on the Mount? Doesn’t this twin focus capture the essence of James admonition, “be do-ers of the Word?” To be a do-er of the Word, necessitates a correct understanding of the Word (belief) and appropriate behavior (way of life)].

In youth ministry it seems that during the summer as we accompany kids through life and share experiences at camp or conferences or on a missions trip - it is a great time to remind ourselves and the students that the Christian faith is more than the acquisition of right thinking. The message of Jesus was one which affirmed both a belief system (Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is One) and a way of life (Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… and your neighbor as yourself). As you go through this summer think of ways that you can call your students to nurture their faith as a way of life. Maybe even introduce a new word into their lexicon, be-live. Calling ourselves and those we lead and love to have a congruence between our beliefs and our way of living. Believing and following in the way of Jesus is finding that harmony between right thinking/believing and right living/priorities. I call that be-living.