It's Ironic

It is supremely ironic that many of us become anxious about the faith of our loved ones.  I've detected this in myself many times, and I've observed it in others.  Moms and dads worry about whether or not their children will entrust their lives to Christ, wives become anxious for their husbands (and husbands for their wives), and pastors worry about the faith of their congregation's members.   When this is so, we tend to speak in loud tones, to lecture, plead, and even, on occasion, manipulate our loved ones to become believers, or to become better believers.   But here is the irony.  Faith is, as the New Testament reminds us repeatedly, a non-anxious way of being.  To have faith in God is to trust God to meet our daily needs (see Mt 6) and to entrust our worries to God through prayer, so that the "peace that passes understanding" will guard our hearts and minds.   Faith and trust are inseparable; faith and anxiety are oil and water.  To become anxious about the faith (or lack thereof) of another person is a faithless act.  It takes the responsibility for a loved one's faith upon one's self, as though God is not!   The alternative to being anxious about the faith of those I love is simple, but challenging.  Each of us is called to bear witness to our faith to others, including our loved ones, and then to trust God with the outcomes.  To bear witness is to speak of that which I have seen, heard, experienced to be true.  It is a far different thing to bear witness to my faith than it is to anxiously seek to impress it upon another.  In the former case, I am planting seeds and trusting God.  In the latter case, I'm lecturing and manipulating and acting as though I am God.