Faith that is Evident

Photo by Ifrah Akhter on Unsplash

In the little house in the village, there is a young woman who comes to clean. Though I don’t know her well due in some part to language barriers and in part to complicated social class dynamics, I know one thing almost certainly about her. She is Muslim. I know first and foremost in the way she dresses. She wears long-sleeved dresses and a hijab. I also know in the way she carries herself with a quiet and meek spirit, and I know in the way she stops everything to pray.

As I watched her work one day, I began to wonder about this idea of having a faith that is so evident. Do people look at me and know in the way that I dress, speak, and carry myself that I am a Christian? Can people tell just by looking at me that something is different?

After returning home, I have had the opportunity to speak with Muslim women and Christian women who exemplify their faith in their manner of dressing, speaking, and simply being. I’ve recently found myself contemplating how various Christian denominations exemplify their faith through traditions. In Catholicism, prayer beads are used as a tool which, intentionally or not, physically exemplifies one’s faith to oneself as well as to others. In Orthodox Christianity, most women will cover their heads when receiving communion as a symbol of their faith. These conversations and observations challenge me to consider how I present myself to the world around me.

Am I living in such a way that others immediately think, “There is something different about this woman”? If I am to live this way, it makes me wonder, what does it look like to live as a godly woman?

Titus 2:3-5 says that women are to be controlled, pure, kind, and reverent in behavior. According to Romans 12, Christians should be overflowing with genuine love for one another and for strangers, joyful in all circumstances, peacemakers, and constant in prayer. Though we may stumble, we must eagerly seek to live with such devotion to Christ. I pray that with every breath, I would live with a faith that is evident.