What Kind of Bell Are You?

There’s something beautiful about a well-crafted bell—polished, ornate, maybe even antique. But imagine a bell that looks perfect, yet is never meant to ring. That’s the image I shared in this week's sermon: a decorative bell shaped like a woman in a dress, elegant and untouched. As a child, I couldn’t resist ringing it—and promptly got in trouble. After all, it wasn’t supposed to do anything. It was just supposed to look nice.

Sound familiar?

That decorative bell became a powerful metaphor for the kind of faith many people live out. Faith that looks right from the outside—clean, consistent, even religious—but never actually makes a sound. Never rings. Never moves beyond the pew. And yet, Paul writes to the Thessalonians praising them for the opposite. “The Lord’s message rang out from you,” he says, “not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere” (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

Faith isn’t meant to sit quietly on a shelf. It’s meant to ring out.

My message posed a deeply personal challenge: are you living a decorative faith or a dynamic one? Are you showing up to church out of routine, only to return home unchanged? Or are you the kind of believer whose life testifies loudly and clearly to the presence of Jesus?

Here’s the truth: real faith requires movement. It requires sound. It’s rooted in the reality that you’ve been chosen by God (1 Thessalonians 1:4). That’s not just poetic language. It means you’re loved, called, and equipped with power, the Holy Spirit, and deep conviction (1 Thessalonians 1:5). And with that comes responsibility—not to just look like a Christian, but to live like one.

I warned against the danger of becoming a “pew Christian.” One who never experiences the deep convictions that come from a Spirit-led life. One who attends but doesn’t transform. One who hears but never rings.

Instead, I offered a model built on three anchors:

• Work produced by faith – Your faith starts as a personal choice. No one else can make it for you.
• Labor prompted by love – That faith naturally flows into action and service within a loving community.
• Endurance inspired by hope – Together, we press on because we know this world isn’t the end of the story.

When you live that kind of faith—faith that’s real, relational, and rooted in eternity—you become more than a churchgoer. You become a bell that rings for Jesus in every room you enter.

So here’s the question: What kind of bell are you?

Are you content to look the part—or are you ready to ring?