The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. – Deuteronomy 28: 9

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 27, 2012): Deuteronomy 28

It was a long time ago, but there was a time when men and women of faith seemed to garner more respect than they do today. There was a time when a person of faith could speak, and people – even people who did not agree with the person’s faith position – would listen intently. There was a time when there was a level of trust between the community and a person of faith. Sometimes I think that contemporary people wonder why faith seems to be so prominent in history, and even in the media presentations of a few decades ago. And my answer is simply that there was a time when faith was respected.

Then something changed. I do not really have to work hard to figure out what it was. A few visible people of faith failed. It was not that people of faith do not ever fail – we do. But they failed in such a way that revealed that maybe they really did not believe what they professed to believe in the first place. And so it did not take long for the question to be asked – does anyone really believe? What if it is all just a hoax?

The problem is actually kind of obvious. Either we believe, or we do not. And if we believe, then we will order our lives by what it is that we believe. It is not that we will never fail. As long as we are alive, failure will be part of our lives. There will always be times that we do not live up to our statements of faith. But we will also own up to our errors and recommit to the faith. And we will be actively policing our own behavior rather than waiting until we get caught in activities “outside the faith.”

God’s promise is that if we walk in his ways – I would even amend that to say that if we sincerely try to walk in his ways – then he will make out of us a holy people. A people set apart for him. A people that is fit to carry his name into the culture in which we live. And I believe that – if we really believe – we will be a people that others will honor. Even those that do not share our belief.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 29