How Does Your Faith Guide Your Daily Life?

In the WSJ [Wisconsin State Journal, published in Madison, Wisconsin] of Sunday, Dec. 13, page 1B, you had a column titled "Give us your views on faith and religion". You asked specifically "How do your religious and spiritual beliefs affect your daily lives? For instance, how do they affect your personal priorities and how to interact with other people?"

Here is my answer:

I used to see my relationship with God largely as the sum of a list of "true" Christian doctrines and unique do's and don'ts. As I experienced more of life, I realized that my list of doctrines and rules could not be applied to every situation. Now when I am faced with big decisions I remember the humility and love of Christ - God who became man. Virtually all decisions of life involve other people, and remembering that Christ died for all gives me a starting point for making those decisions. "…Christ's love compels us…" (2 Cor. 5:14)

John Torgerson, Wisconsin Dells

For her, belief based on God's unconditional love

How do my religious and spiritual beliefs affect my daily life?

One impression I walked away with after reading the articles in the Dec. 6 paper was that there was an assumption that religion is something you do. In my case it is more about relationship.

My most important belief as a Christian is that God loves me. And I get to love him back if I choose to. God loves me no matter what - nothing I do or don't do will make him love me more. Now since I do love him, I try to be obedient to what I feel he's calling me to do, but that's really secondary.

I could go into pages of detail on how my faith compels me to be honest, caring, moral, growing, hard-working, etc., but that's really only the fruit of always knowing that God loves me.

Thanks for such a thought provoking question.

-Mary Strait, Madison

Faith kept her going in toughtest times

My spiritual life is about relationships. When I was in my 30s, I began to study the life of Jesus. What has most influenced me is that Jesus treated people with truth and grace - not one without the other. I try to mke this a priority in my relationships.

I have esxperienced God's love when people have been willing to walk along beside me and share my burden. My hope is that I can do this for others. When my husband died suddenly, I found that I did not lose my faith - my faith kept me. God provided me with his strength to replace my weakness. Do I have failures? You bet! Is my life free of troubles? No, but on most days, I accept the peace that passes human understanding. A Christmas gift from God!

-Judy McClain, Madison

Mrs. McClain's late husband was University of Wisconsin football coach Dave McClain.