Alienation between Faith and Life

Many Christians  distinguish between church and life.  Church is holy and spiritual while daily life is secular and non-spiritual.  However, the Church exists right in the center of the world; Jesus loves the world and came to live in it. Our goal and the way it is realized makes the world either holy or merely secular, writes the desk columnist of the Catholic Times. 

This disparity among Christians between our life and our faith he considers a serious problem. Life is lived in many cases in the same way by those who believe and by those who don't, and those who believe possibly even at times with more dishonesty and worldly ambitions.

Looking at the faith life of Christians, many see it as a thoughtless habit: believing in God but refusing his influence in life; a disciple of Jesus but refusing his directions:  Christian but having no influence on the world. Christians without any strength, a perfunctory belief; not a belief that seeks the will of God but uses God to gain their own will.

External acceptance of church life as the way of having a correct relationship with Jesus is a serious misunderstanding. Jesus wants us to know him, to understand why he came to earth, to follow his teaching and understand what is necessary to live in this way.

Surveys show that Christians feel that there is a natural  alienation between faith and life. Most also sympathize with this position but the columnist does not. Faith they see as a good but daily life is where there is a  problem. He doesn't want the Christians to limit  their faith life  to the church. Many see a zealous religious life as going to  Mass and being  generous to the church. But it is much more than this, and wonders if this alienation does not, in fact, reflect the Korean reality.

The religious life, the columnist says, should manifest itself in the family, in the way the children are raised, in the workplace, the way monies are used. Also in present issues of life:  environment, children's education,  and the like. In these matters Christians are no different than others. If we accepted  God's graces, we would not have the discrepancy between our religious life and daily life, for they would be one. We would understand that we are to live in the world as Christians. We would be walking in the steps of Jesus, who came into the world because he loved the world and wanted to change it. We are being asked nothing less than to follow in his footsteps.