Collateral Faith: Influencing Main Characters
A number of years ago, I was invited to teach a class on Acts to sixth grade girls at church. Because this was a class I normally taught on the university level, I was excited to get a chance to share it with this group. The very first night as we entered the classroom, before I even sat down, I was challenged by a couple of members of the class. They told me that they knew that the Bible wasn’t applicable to their lives. Basically, they were saying, they were only going to tolerate this textual study. That night, I challenged them to share their concerns with me, and, using the book of Acts alone, I hoped to show them how the Bible did speak to their concerns. I wanted to reaffirm their belief in the living, breathing Word of God.
The conversation disturbed me, though, and I began a series of conversations with youth ministers from different congregations. I shared my experience and asked them what they thought had happened to create this belief. The youth ministers told me that this type of thing was, unfortunately, not uncommon. They had encountered it many times before. From my conversations with them, I began to realize how important it was for families to have real conversations about real faith issues and struggles, seeking to apply Scripture to these challenges. Children needed to see how their parents worked through problems. A minister had commented to me that he thought parents work it all out but don’t allow their children to see them apply the Bible to the problems they are facing.
Some of the most powerful faith examples I have had are people who have faced health issues or life challenges, and who then made selfless decisions. In some cases, they had no intention of ever being an example to another person, but they certainly taught through their example. An illustration of the powerful influence someone can have on others is Naomi. In Ruth 1, Naomi faced one blow after another, enduring a pain that we would hope no one would ever face. The loss of her husband and both sons would be overwhelming during any time period. In Old Testament times, it meant financial devastation and carried social implications as well. The Jews of this time seem to have believed in something we refer to as the “retribution principle.” In basic terms, this meant that if someone was living righteously and following God, they would be blessed. But if bad things happened, there must be something in a person’s life that wasn’t right with God and they were being punished. We can see the implications of this in the questions asked when Jesus healed the blind man in John 9.
Naomi led her little family during these dark years. She made the decision to return to Judah where she had heard there was grain after the end of a famine. With no hope of an additional son to marry one of her two daughters, she could not carry on the Jewish practices when a son passed away. She was brave in releasing the two daughters-in-law to return to their families and remarry, as this meant she would face her uncertain future alone. The text provides little detail about their day-to-day lives during this difficult time period. However, Ruth had obviously been impacted by Naomi. She believed in Yahweh, and Naomi had not done anything during this time period to negatively impact that faith. Ruth wanted to be a part of not only Naomi, but of her people and her God. Naomi faced these challenges in a way that was faith-affirming and inspired Ruth to want to be a part of God’s people.
What happened next is encouraging. Ruth returned to Judah with Naomi and proceeded to provide for them. She worked hard in the fields gleaning (Ruth 2). This act was for the poorest of the poor; yet she humbled herself by doing this and was grateful for the grain. Her selflessness and love for Naomi was noticed by her community and ultimately by Boaz who married her and brought Naomi into his household.
Ruth became the main character in the story, not Naomi. But without Naomi’s righteous example as she faced unthinkable hardship, Ruth likely would not have been able to develop the faith she did. Naomi could have lashed out at her daughters-in-law, stopped believing in Yahweh, or any number of unhealthy responses. Even though we don’t know specifics about her response during this time period, her faith impacted Ruth’s in an incredible way. Naomi didn’t do it so Ruth would actually go to Judah with her and adopt her Jewish faith; that was just what happened as a result of it. Ruth developed a collateral faith based on Naomi’s example.
Sometimes as we are facing difficult things, our manner in doing so impacts more people than we know. While we may not be tending to do anything other than live faithfully, others are watching and being impacted by it. When we are just living out our private story, our influence can help someone else who is going to become a main character just as Ruth did. We never know how God will use us to increase “collateral faith” in another. We must just live faithfully.
