How does belief in God affect the way people live their lives?

What would a Christian say influences their lives?

Their belief in God Teachings of the Bible Teachings of Jesus Other Christians

In groups, research how belief in God affects the way Christians live. You will have to

present you findings to the rest of the class at the end of the lesson.

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who founded a worldwide organization called the Missionaries of Charity. She believed that what she was doing was directly helping Jesus. Her aim was:

…to care for the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.

The message was quite clear, it was an order. I was to leave the convent. I felt that God wanted something more from me. He wanted me to be poor and to love Him in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.

In 1946 Mother Teresa received a vocation from God "to serve Him amongst the poorest of the poor".

Mother Teresa believed that the poorest of the poor were ‘Christ in disguise’.

Day of decision

The poorest of the poor means all those who are unwanted and unloved and rejected by society, such as cripples, orphans, lepers, the blind, the dying and the homeless.

Working with the poorest of the poor

Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in1979 for her work with the ‘poorest of the poor’ allaround the world but particularly in Calcutta, India.

The unwanted and unloved

Being unwanted is the worst disease any human being can experience.

What these people need even more than food and shelter is to be wanted. They understand that even if they only have a few hours left to live, they are loved.

What did justice mean to Mother Teresa?Justice for Mother Teresa meant showing love to thosewho had been abandoned and left on the streets to diein terrible poverty with no one to care for them.

She put into practice Jesus’ teaching about loving yourneighbour and helping those in need. She felt thatevery time she touched a leper or helped an abandonedbaby she was seeing Christ in front of her.

I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:35-40)

How would Mother Theresa as an example to Christians influence how

they live their lives?

How would this affect what Christian Communities do?

How does belief in God affect the way Christians live their lives?