Originally posted in June of 2018

A few years ago the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics was giving out buttons saying “Mathematics Is a Verb.” The button struck a chord with me, since as a math teacher I’d seen too many students over the years who approached math as a collection of facts and rules to be committed to memory. Some survived a number of courses using this approach, but eventually they would reach a course where they crashed like a car hitting a brick wall; they could no longer rely on memory.

Learning math is like learning to play a sport or a musical instrument; you don’t become a good basketball player by reading the rule book. Indeed the goal of taking math courses is to be able to solve problems, or at least understand other people’s solutions to them. The saying also points out that math, and this is true of most subjects, is almost impossible to learn taking a passive approach. As a teacher, I was always very sad when I saw a student who had all the abilities needed to succeed, but didn’t, usually because they never used these abilities to gain their own understanding.

I think that the same is true of Christianity. While God’s grace is free, the road to it starts with an intentional act, repentance, and the role of being a Christian is not a passive one. We need to be engaged in our local church community, study God’s word, and make efforts to spread the Good News. Even in worship we need to be an active participants. Some of us have been given spiritual gifts that would enable us to sing in the choir, be a reader, a congregational leader, or even be an assisting minister; we should volunteer to use these gifts. We may not be led to formally participate in worship, but in this case we should resist being seduced by the comforting familiarity of ritual; the words we recite have meaning and we should make effort to bring them to heart. Some of us have been given types of gifts that would enable us to help around the church and community; we should make sure that these gifts are not wasted. We are not saved by works, but because we have received God’s grace, we should view Christianity as a verb.

Please read Romans 12:6-8 to see what Paul has to say about spiritual gifts, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim

Romans 12:6-8  “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”