The 'Big Picture' series - 4: Repentance

Practicality: In order to be a part of Kingdom of God and be part of God’s family, we must leave sinful ways. We must faithfully choose against sin and instead be committed to do what is right, and not think that choosing to sin is acceptable behaviour for Christians.

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In light of my previous posts, it should be a relatively straightforward step to discuss repentance and salvation. There is no doubt that salvation is a major theme of Scripture, but we should not forget that repentance is also a major theme. So, let us firstly look at repentance.

Simply put, repentance could be described as leaving the kingdom of sin. As I discussed in my previous post, this entails a choice cease being selfish and leave sinful ways. Repentance is the opposite of choosing to be faithful to something, and in the Bible is means to no longer be faithful to sin.

But sadly, repentance has been dulled down, and is now widely thought to involve feelings of guilt, regret, remorse, and wretchedness. “Repent”, people say, and suggest that this requires them to feel bad about the wrongs they’ve done. Certainly, repentance will often be coupled with feeling bad about previous sin, but it is not always. Indeed, the point of repentance is not to feel bad about sin, but to leave it – even if it still appeals to you. After all, we sin because we want to, and that is exactly what we have to leave – our selfish desires.

What is worse about popular ideas of repentance is that the notion of actually leaving sin and denying self is largely ignored. It is replaced by the idea that everyone will never be perfect here on earth. Eventually, such reasoning leads to the current popular idea that when you choose to become a Christian, it is the start of a journey away from sin and toward the likeness of Christ. There is no suggestion that repentance from sin will cause a marked change in behaviour – to stop sinning. The idea of ‘put to death your selfishness’ that is referred to in the Bible as ‘dying to self’ has been replaced with something like ‘start disliking your selfishness – but it’s normal for it to remain as it was before’. Yes, we should ‘dislike our selfishness’, but repentance involves not just dislike of it, but the choice to wholly revoke it. So, repentance should be evident in our actions, a repentant person chooses to leave sinful ways.

Let me address here an important objection. We are not perfect, and yes, a true Christian may not be as perfect as Christ. For instance, we may not notice that someone needs help in a situation, and therefore not do the good that we could have done. This situation is like a child who does not yet know the ways of being an adult. But it is another matter entirely for a Christian to realise someone needs help in a situation and selfishly choose not to help them. It is worse still for a Christian to know what not to do, but when faced with the choice, to do it anyway. For instance, as a Christian I should not steal, but if I knowingly steal I have willingly chosen to obey sin instead of God.

The issue is one of choice. How can we say we will leave sin and put to death our selfish desires, and then choose sin and obey our selfishness? Or worse, how can we say we have left our sinful ways and go on choosing to sin? You say “no one is perfect, and so we will all still sin” as an excuse to choose to sin. If you have the choice, it is exactly that – a choice! A repentant heart will habitually choose not to sin.

I believe most Christians do still find some choices difficult to make, and occasionally will choose to follow their selfish desires instead of what they know is right. Yet, just because most people sometime do this, it does not make it any better. Repentance is ongoing. Remember I said it was the opposite of faithful commitment to something – it is the faithful commitment against something. It is not a tick by your name that says you have ‘repented’, a mere one-time act, but someone who has repented must be faithful to keep that commitment to leave sin and forsake selfish desire – every day.

In the story of the prodigal son, the son repented by returning to his father. But what good would it have done if the son had still continued to live a life of sinfulness? But the son went to a “distant country” – which implies when he returned he was far from the sinful lifestyle he had lived. His repentance was to leave the distant country, which of course signifies a life of selfish sin. He could not bring the distant country back to the house of his father, such a thought is ridiculous – to pick up rocks and earth and trees and carry them back to his father’s house so that he may enjoy them there. Likewise, we cannot seek to bring with us sinful ways if we come into God’s family, for it defeats the purpose of coming into his family and pollutes the Church. If we are still living in sin, we are still in the far away land. A relationship with God from such a place would feel distant, perhaps with very limited communication. It strikes me how many Christians describe their relationship with God as feeling ‘distant’ from Him.

Further, to use the analogy in my previous post of the soldier doing battle, repentance is like defecting from a bad side to ally with the good one. It is nothing but words unless one actually no longer fights for the bad side but instead for the good. Again, it is a poor soldier who switches allegiances back and forth during the battle, one moment choosing to fight for good and the next begin bad.

The Bible is practically bursting with instruction to repent and leave sinful ways. God tells us to hunger and thirst after righteousness, holiness, and to be “perfect as He is perfect”. The mere fact that God keeps telling us to choose righteousness and forsake sin strongly suggests that He knows we have a choice.

So why should we repent? Repentance is required for salvation, the topic of my next post. As I hope we will see, salvation is worth repenting for.

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Some verses to ponder (from the LITV). Note that these are just ones that have the actual word “repent” in them, but the idea of repentance is prolific throughout Scripture in instructions to cease wicked, disobedient, selfish and idolatrous ways.

From Lexicons: Hebrew: “repent” = to turn back, Greek: repent” = think differently

Job 42:6, Jer 18:8, Jer 18:9-10, Mat 4:17, Mat 9:13, Mat 11:20, Mat 12:41, Mar 1:15, Mar 6:12, Luk 3:3, Luk 15:7, Luk 24:47, Act 2:38, Act 3:19, Act 5:31, Act 8:22, Act 17:30, Act 19:4, Act 20:21, Act 26:20, 2Co 12:21, Heb 6:1, 2Pe 3:9, Rev 2:5, Rev 2:16, Rev 3:19

The 'Big Picture' series - 3: The Two Kingdoms

Practicality: People are always having to choose between loving and serving themselves (or idols) or God (and hence others), which are fundamentally opposed and mutually exclusive. Whether people belong to the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of sin is dependent which King they give their allegiance to – themselves or God - and whomever they are devoted to they serve with their actions. Thus, we need to be completely selfless and instead be whole-heartedly committed to loving God and loving others in everything we do.

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There is a powerful figurative thing that is often referred to, but little understood. Christ often spoke of it when He taught, as did the apostles. In fact, it encompasses so much of what it means to be a Christians that perhaps we, too, should spend as much time thinking about it as Jesus and the apostles did. I speak of the Kingdom of God.

What is it, and how does it relate to us? Before I give answer to that, I must describe a different kingdom, the one that is not of God. I will call this kingdom the kingdom of sin, and seek to describe it.

The nature of a kingdom is that it has a king, and kingdom is defined by the people who give allegiance to that king. Thus, people in the kingdom of sin are allied to sin – they serve it, they obey it, they live for it. In what way can someone be so allied to sin? Well, in my previous post on sin I described it as being a failure to love God and love others. Thus, anyone who is not devoted to doing this is therefore devoted to something else, and as I mentioned in my previous post, such devotion is typically to either themselves, or things that distract people from loving God and others (idols).

So, the citizens of the kingdom of sin are determined by their devotion to things that are unloving of God and others. At the extreme, this involves intentional harm to others – but nevertheless, such intentions are generally grounded in either selfishness or idolatry. Citizens of this kingdom therefore make as their king their own desires – and they are ruled by them. They are ruled by things like greed, lust, materialism, ego, unfairness, competition and appearance. These are the type of powers that Paul writes Christians battle against. The eyes of people living in the kingdom of sin are turned not to God and others, but to themselves and to things.

It is not good to live in the kingdom of sin. The ultimate futility of life in this kingdom can be easily seen, for we enter this earth with nothing and with nothing we will return. The prestige, wealth, and size of ego we gain is ultimately of no value, for it is only what we give that remains. What is worse, however, is that the selfishness and idolatry of the kingdom of sin lead to pain, dissatisfaction, lack of fulfillment, and relationships that are only a shadow of what they could be. Indeed, it is only in relationships that meaning for our existence is found, and so by loving on others but ourselves and meaningless things – we naturally destroy our relationships, for true relationship is inherently about loving someone else. People in the kingdom of sin ultimately find little but loneliness and the yearning for a deeper life.

Because the citizens of the kingdom of sin do not serve God or others, these two become things to serve what they are devoted to. They view God as something that will benefit themselves, or as a way to serve their idols. Naturally, God does not indulge them, for to do so would merely feed the selfishness and idolatry that keep them enslaved. What is worse, is that they also use others to benefit themselves or serve their idols. Such selfishness tends to hurt others, because instead of creating love and care among people it steals it away, and people are abused, wronged, cheated, lied to, enslaved, and even killed. Such a description is fitting of our current society, where we are so familiar and disturbingly comfortable with it that we do not imagine a different way of life, and that is exactly why Christ described the Kingdom of God…

The Kingdom of God embodies a way of life that is completely different from the kingdom of sin. Indeed, they are totally opposed, as light is the opposite to darkness. Those in the Kingdom of God do not love themselves nor idols, but God. I use the word ‘love’ not only in an emotional one, but also in the practical sense that it is the purpose of our actions. Relationship with God becomes paramount – it is literally what those in the Kingdom live for. Because people of the Kingdom do not serve their selfishness, they no longer value selfish gain, but in giving love to others. Members of the Kingdom are not selfish, and it is for this reason that citizens of the Kingdom of God are described as ‘dead to themselves’ but living for God. The selflessness of the Kingdom of God is illustrated by Jesus many times. He tells parables of a people giving up all they value for it, and it is precisely because they give up what they want that they can join God’s Kingdom. This is the ‘cost’ of following Jesus in His loving relationships with the Father and with others. Selflessness is the cross that Christ tells us to carry – for on it we put to death our selfishness – the word is rich with the idea of self denial, for Romans forced people to carry the very cross they would die upon.

So, in the Kingdom of God, it is true that those who find their life, ultimately lose it; but those who loose their life, and instead live for God and others, gain true life. By denying our selfishness, we can love others and form true loving relationships with God and others – which is where we find we truly find life. In loving God and loving other people, we are obeying God’s instruction – which teaches what loving Him and others involves in practice.

It is an appropriate analogy to describe the two kingdoms as two lands separated by a large distance. People in the kingdom of sin cannot be in the Kingdom of God while remaining in the kingdom of sin, because the Kingdom of God is far from it. Is it not sensible then for Jesus and the apostles to urge us to leave sin? Unless we leave sin, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Nor can selfish citizens of the kingdom of sin expect the kingdom of God to come to them, for the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with the kingdom of sin – but rather people choose what kingdom to be allied to in their hearts, for “the Kingdom of God is within you”.

The two kings therefore do battle for our hearts, and we choose who wins by who we serve. If we are selfish, we serve sin, but if we love God and others instead, we serve God. The two kingdoms are totally opposed and mutually exclusive. It is no surprise, then, that Jesus said that no one can serve these two masters. We serve one of these kings, whether we like to admit it or not.

But when do we serve God and when are we serving sin? The essence of faith is committed devotion, and so needless to say we should be always serving God. Indeed, if our selfish desires ‘die’, then analogy suggests that Christ-like character should come to life in us to replace it, and so selfishness should not come back to life.

Yet, we think we can be committed to serving both ourselves and God, so in fact we are committed to neither. We are like solders doing battle who repeatedly change allegiances during battle. Surely, the commander of such people would rather they do not fight at all! Such double-mindedness is condemned in the Bible. This lack of allegiance to either seems to be why the Laodiceans were described as “lukewarm” in Revelation, and it is surely why God disliked their behaviour.

So, we need to be committed to God’s kingdom, and to do that we must leave our selfishness that causes sinful action. These thoughts will lead us to the next topics I intend to discuss, repentance and salvation.

The 'Big Picture' series - 2: Sin

Practicality: Sin is rooted in selfishness or idolatry, and is ultimately harmful for us and others because it is opposed to loving God and loving others. For this reason, God wants to free us from sin to restore these relationships, for these healthy relationships cannot occur where there is selfishness or idolatry.

If all God’s commands can be distilled into two; to love God, and to love others, then sin is surely a failure to do this. This is not love in the romantic or emotional sense, but in a practical sense. As Jesus taught, a person always loves something or someone at the sacrifice of love for other things or people (Mat 6:24). So, I suggest that sin ultimately due to loving things other than God or people. The Bible lists many of the ways in which people do this, such as disobedience, greed, coveting, and failure to help or be fair, and the list goes on. However, it seems failure to love God and people is due to two main causes – loving things (idolatry), and loving one’s self rather than God or others (selfishness).

Oddly, many seem to treat sin as something God has a real problem with – in and of itself. “God is Holy,” they say, “and so cannot tolerating being in the presence of sin.” Yet, Jesus spent much of his time with sinners. Indeed, the ideas of God not wanting to be around sin is almost the opposite of what we see in Jesus, and far more reflected in the current attitudes of so-called Christians. These ideas stem from a false conception of the nature of sin, for sin is not something God has a problem with – but something we have a problem with. Sin is harmful to us and others, and it is because of this that God hates it. He does not hate it simply because He is some spotlessly pure being who cannot tolerate the thought that sinners may dirty His clothes, He hates it because it hurts the people He loves. The hurt of sin is not only physical pain, but damage to relationships, and relationships are arguably the most important things in life. Relationships are the framework in which Jesus summed up God’s instructions – love God, and love others – love is essential to good relationships.

Some current ideas suggest that somehow, through some action of Jesus, God can now accept us AND our sin – as if sin is some kind of baggage that we carry in large suitcases. I think such ideas miss the point, because we are still hurt by the sin we do, and God wants us to be free of the sin. The importance of our sin is not the guilt, it is the consequence. We must realise that God wants us to be free from sin, not merely to leave us being hurt by it.

The damage of sin is subtle, but dramatic. Perhaps the reason we no longer understand God’s perspective on sin well is because we try to interpret in from an individualistic mindset, rather than a relational one. When life is about me, my sin hardly matters for I can do what I want – my life is all about me; but when life is about others, my sin matters a great deal. Too often, we view sin as the objectionable baggage that God must graciously overlook because we are thinking of ourselves. “Sin is something that stops God from liking ME.” “God please forgive my sin,” (so that I don’t have to renounce it). No, we should not be viewing sin as something that is stopping God from loving us – it is because of His love for us that He wants us to stop sinning! God has a relational mindset, where sin is something that damages relationships – the most priceless things God has blessed us with. Sin damages our relationship with God not because God cannot love us as much, but because selfishness causes us to not love God as much. Likewise, idolatry causes us to love Him less. Sin is not loving others as we should – and therefore it is bad for our relationships with others.

At its core, sin is about putting us first – about caring more about ourselves at the sacrifice of our love for God and others. So, how can we view sin as something that we need to be pardoned so that we can be loved and accepted more? Such a view is childish, for it is still focussed on self-interest! Rather, sin is something that we need to forsake so that we can love and accept others more – because sin comes from selfishness and righteousness from selflessness. The focus should be on giving love, and not on merely getting what we want. God has already given us an amazing example in Christ of sin-less, self-less character, for He loved people not for His benefit, but for theirs.

Idolatry is similar in effect to selfishness, in that it hinders our love for God and others. Instead of loving who we should be, we love things. God never told us to love things, He told us to love relational beings – Himself and people. Thus, idolatry is similarly in contrast to the righteous love that God commands. One may think, “Idolatry is hardly common in the Western culture, but it is surely more in the East where they have small statues that they pray to.” What a narrow view of idolatry! A thing does not need to be carved in wood or stone to be an idol. In Western culture, we love all manner of things, like fashion, looks, money, fame, power or business. These things are not bad in themselves – some can even be good – but they become sin when they detract from our love for God and others. Certainly, we are an idolatrous society because we too often focus far more on things than we do on God and other people. Such things are not sinful, it is our neglect of what is important and what is right that is sinful. For we only have a certain number of hours in the day, and a certain amount of resources and if we commit them to things we forfeit giving them for God and others.

I believe that the ideas about sin I have tried to present here have helped me understand the Scriptures and God’s heart more, and I hope they do the same for you. More posts related to this topic will follow.

The 'Big Picture' series - 1: Faith

After much delay, here are some hopefully coherent thoughts that summarise what I now think about faith. Details are at the end, for those who don't have time to read them. Please comment - especially on specific bits you like or disagree with. If you can think of some other verses that you think I should deal with specifically please also mention.

Faith

What is it? Faith is faithfulness, devotion, dedication, loyalty, and commitment. To ‘believe’ is hence to have such devotion or to be devoted in such a way.

Practicality: We must be faithful, devoted, dedicated, loyal, allied, and committed to God, to His teachings, and to imitating Him.

Popular ideas on what faith is

I have heard many confusing ideas about faith and belief. These days, most of them seem to revolve around ‘belief’, ‘trust’ and ‘confidence’. I consulted a few dictionaries, and have summarised some of the definitions below and added some of the examples:

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing, e.g. I have faith he will arrive; also with the notion of trust, e.g. I have faith this rope will support my weight.

2. Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony, e.g. I have faith the news is accurate

3. The belief in the facts and truth of the Scriptures; especially that confiding and affectionate belief in the person and work of Christ, e.g. I believe He died and rose again for me.

4. Mental acceptance of and confidence in a claim as truth without evidence supporting the claim, and often in spite of evidence to the contrary, e.g. I have faith in the goodness of my fellow man.

5. Belief and trust in God's promises revealed through Christ and the Scriptures, e.g. Hebrews 11:1

6. A feeling or belief, not dependent on evidence, that something is true, real, or will happen, e.g. Have faith that the criminal justice system will avenge the murder.

7. A trust in the intentions or abilities of a person or object, e.g. I have faith in a just and loving God.

8. A set of principles or beliefs, e.g. the Christian faith

It seems most of these ideas are prominent in current Christian culture. Some typical quotes from websites I found

· “Talk to God and tell him that you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for your sins.”

· “Have faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as God’s remedy for sin.”

· “Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the Cross and rose from the grave.”

· “…one must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

· “Do you believe that Jesus lived here as a man, died, rose from the dead, and was seen by many?”

· “Do you now believe in your heart that God sent Jesus to rescue you from sin and certain death?”

· “I lack faith. I do not feel the presence of God or His power in my life. How can I have more faith?”

· “Do you lack faith to know that God is with you? To overcome sin and guilt? To be healed of disease? To believe all things in His Word? Do you lack faith that “all things [will] work together for good” if you love God (Rom. 8:28)? To believe God will work out injustices you have received? To believe God will provide for you? To believe that you can endure severe trials and persecution? Or that God will deliver you from them? Do you lack faith to see the soon-coming kingdom of God more clearly and that you can be in it?”

· “I have known many people who believed that faith is an intangible “feeling” that cannot be defined. It is often thought to be personal, mysterious and unique to each person. This feeling usually has no definition, structure, or clear purpose and, inevitably, is whatever people want or need it to be.”

· “Others believe that faith is some kind of “positive thinking.” It is as though as long as people take an optimistic view and remain upbeat about events and circumstances, they are demonstrating faith.”

· “…perhaps [the] most common idea is that faith is any general belief that Jesus died for your sins.”

Not to mention the famous 3-line Salvation prayers like:

“Dear God, I admit I am a sinner in need of You. Please forgive me of my sins and give me abundant life here on earth and eternal life with You in heaven. I believe Jesus died and rose again for my sins. I confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of my life. Thank You for saving me. In Jesus' name, Amen.”

Is this really what faith is all about? Does convincing myself that something is true really do me any good? If I jump off a tall building, it wouldn’t help if I was convinced I would float unharmed to the ground. In fact, if that ignorant belief led to me killing myself in such stupidity, it would be quite harmful. What about faith regarding Jesus? Does it really help me to believe that two millennia ago someone died and made some cosmic transaction that enables me to be part of God’s family? How is believing this different to believing that two millennia ago a small green alien by the name of Zrojnig, who flew to a distant galaxy and defeated a race of mutant sardines so that he could persuade God not to press the Button of Cosmic Doom, and that if we believe this story God will give us Eternal Chocolate and won’t send us into the Ravine of Eternal Tickling?

Surely faith is more than just the definitions I’ve listed above? Surely faith should be something real, something we can understand, and something we can see in a tangible way in the lives of Christians? I believe it should be.

My definition of faith

So, what is Biblical faith? I left out one dictionary definition previously, and that is “Fidelity; loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance; faithfulness.” According to most lexicons, the Greek word translated ‘faith’ carried a meaning captured by both “faith” and “fidelity” – in other words, in Greek ‘faith’ had the same meaning as ‘fidelity’ because they were exactly the same word.

In my opinion, faith is what makes one faithful, loyal, committed and devoted to someone or something. The meaning of faith is preserved in the sense of being ‘faithful’, which literally means literally ‘full of faith’. Faith, therefore, is not a mental confidence, nor mere trust, but it is the very thing that makes us faithful. ‘Faith’ encapsulates words like faithfulness, loyalty, devotion, allegiance, and commitment. It would be used to describe a soldier’s loyalty, devotion and allegiance to his commander.

In the Greek, ‘faith’ (pistis) and ‘believe’ (pisteuo) are essentially the same word. The first when it is used as a noun, the second is when it is used as a verb. So, ‘believe’ simply means to be devoted, faithful, loyal, allied, and committed.

How it fits into Christianity

Faith is the foundation of belonging to God. Instead of being selfishly devoted to ourselves, we are to be devoted to God the Father.

Faith is the thing that puts us in the Kingdom of God because people who are faithful to God belong to Him. In the story of the Prodigal son, the son could not be part of his father’s household unless returned to his father’s house. The son chose to devote himself again to his father, and so returned to his father’s house. The son could only resume his relationship with his father by returning to him – by again being ‘faithful’ to his father. As long as the son was in his father’s house, his father accepted him into his family. Likewise, our devotion to God makes us leave our sinful ways and instead live as a Child of God, according to His instructions which are given in the Bible.

Often, the Bible speaks of ‘believe in Christ’ or ‘faith in Christ’. In the Greek, these passages read ‘believe to/into Christ’ or ‘faith to/into Christ’. I should point out that because Christ is the head of the Church, if we are devoted to Him, we are giving our devotion to the Father because Christ represents the Father. In the same way, we too should represent the Father in the same way a soldier represents his commander or a knight represents his king. It is because of this that the Bible tells us to have the “faith of Jesus” (check the Greek in Phi 3:9, Rom 3:22, Gal 2:16, Gal 3:22, Gal 2:20, Phil 1:7, Rev 14:12, Rom 3:26, Eph 3:11-12, Jam 2:1, also Mark 11:22 “have faith of God”). This is to be interpreted in the same way that we would understand “Jesus’ faith”. Just like one might wish to having the president’s fame, or Bill Gates’ wealth, or someone’s looks or skills, we are told to have Jesus’ faithfulness. This does not mean we take it from Him, but rather we develop faithfulness like His own. We are to imitate Jesus who is “the chief-leader and perfector of faith” (Heb 12:2) – and His faith (devotion) was to God. Christ our leader and those who follow Him are unified in their devotion to God, so all those who devote themselves to God join into ‘Christ’. By having the same devotion to God as Christ, we become fellow Children of God with Christ, the Son of God, and co-heirs with Him (Rom 8:16-17).

Comparison with popular ‘faith’

I trust it is clear I don’t agree with the popular ideas about faith I listed. I disagree not only Biblical and common sense grounds, but also on practical grounds. In James, we read that “faith without works is dead.” Indeed, our devotion to God should radically affect how we live. The words I have used to define faith - devotion, faithfulness, dedication, loyalty, commitment and allegiance – all speak something greater than merely what we think, and instead are focussed on our heart, our motivation, and what we do. Our hearts should be devoted entirely to God, and all that we do should be for His cause rather than selfish reasons.

So, whole-hearted, self-less devotion to God is quite easily understood, and such faithfulness to God is made obvious by our character and behaviour. It strikes me that popular ideas of ‘faith’ are hardly well understood – even by those who hold them. Popular ‘faith’ is a collection of unseen, emotive thoughts that seem to have little visible affect on how they live, on their actions. No wonder people wonder if they have enough ‘faith’ if their works do not show it. Some even redefine what ‘faith’ so that they don’t have to be devoted to God at all, but instead justify themselves in their self-centred Christianity. Such ideas turn faith inside out, and view it as something we need so that God serves us by blessing us – rather that seeing it our devoted service to Him. Self-centred ‘faith’ is everywhere. For example, why do we hear it preached to ‘accept Christ’ when we’re not accepting Him, but giving our whole-heated devotion to Him? If anything, it is Christ who is accepting us, not the other way around. We are told what we need to do so that God will give us blessings, but the focus of our hearts should not be on ourselves!

In contrast to popular ‘faith’, it doesn’t take a lifetime of learning theology to know whether we have devotion God, whether we need more of it or if we have ‘true faith’. We needn’t trouble our minds about longing to feel more confident that God will do this or that, or wishing we could just believe something more strongly contrary to what our senses tell us. If we do not ‘feel’ close to God, it should not deter our devotion to Him. If He never gives us what we ask, it should not make us wonder if we just need to trust Him more and be more sure He’ll bless us, and it should not undermine our devotion to Him – if anything, it should stir us to be more devoted to Him.

What can undermine my devotion to God? My devotion to God is not largely based on what people say Christ did for me on the Cross, nor the interpretation of a few key Bible verses, nor my ideas about the atonement or justification or sin or countless other theologies and doctrines. My devotion to God is the answer to my question, “to who or what else should be devoted to?” I have already learned being devoted to money or wealth or possessions is ultimately unfulfilling. I also know being devoted to myself turns me into a stagnant, festering pool of selfishness that has no true happiness or fulfilment. I do have some devotion to my family and friends, but there is no one apart from God who deserves my whole-hearted devotion – and that devotion is far greater than my devotion to people. The only thing that could detract from my devotion to God is becoming devoted to someone or someone else instead.

It seems to me that much of popular ‘faith’, however, is quite frail. An unanswered prayer, a new perspective on the Bible or Christ’s work, and their faith quivers and wavers unsteadily – indeed, it may lead them to give up the real Faith. Their mind is filled with doubts and uncertainties, and they are told that such doubts and uncertainties are opposed to real ‘faith’. So, they suppress the questions – and pretend they are satisfied with a shallow Christianity that doesn’t really make sense to them. They don’t really know why they believe what they do, but they cling to it like a monkey clinging to a branch above a river of hungry crocodiles. Yet, they are so preoccupied believing the right things that they hardly do anything that God actually wants.

Some details

• Old and new testament faith

There is no difference between the faith of Godly people before Christ and the faith of Godly people after, it is the same devotion to God. People before Christ, therefore, became children of God in exactly the same way as we do now – for God has not changed and so neither has what it means to be devoted to Him.

• What does devotion to God look like in practice?

What devotion to God looks like in practice is summarised in the two great commandments in Mat 22:37-38, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. (Deut. 6:5) This is the first and great commandment. Mat 22:39 And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Lev. 19:18). Jesus also said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (Joh 14:15). Also, “By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments” (1Jo 5:2). We can quickly conclude, then, that devotion requires obedience – and in fact they are practically synonymous with reference to God and His commands. If we are devoted to God, we will serve Him, and in serving him, serve others. We should be developing the fruits of the spirit, helping the poor, etc. We need to do what God tells us to do from the Bible and via the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, we are to become more and more like Christ/God in character. Paul writes in 1Co 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am also of Christ,” and in Eph 5:1, “become imitators of God, as beloved children.”

• A look at some verses

Heb 11:

An important passage to address is Heb 11, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” This verse is confusing if it is taken as the definition of Biblical ‘faith’, so an explanation seems required here. I think this verse is describing aspects of faithfulness that are encompassed in the Biblical idea of ‘faith’. It’s purpose is not to define ‘faith’, but to describe what should be built upon it. It is highlighting that faithfulness is the foundation for trusting God (‘substance’ = support/foundation, and the word for ‘hoped for’ is means “trust in anticipation” or “hopefully trust”; so it reads “faith is the foundation of trusting for things”). The actions we do faithfully now are also the evidence of our devotion (“the evidence of things unseen”). The rest of Hebrews 11 illustrates the faithful actions of those who trusted God in their actions – to illustrate that those who are faithfully devoted to God also trust Him, and their actions are a result of that trust and devotion. This trust is spoken of throughout Scripture and is built upon our devotion and faithfulness to God. It is not difficult to understand that a child would put trust in her father, because he is her father – but on what basis would that child be able to trust that man if she were not his daughter, and instead a stranger? It is because we are children of God that we can trust Him, and we are children of God because we are devoted and committed to Him. (In a broader sense, we can trust for things we faithfully work towards, and our faithfulness is evidence of that trust. )

Thus, faithfulness to God - faith - is the foundation upon which the children of God stand. The firmness of that foundation gives God’s children hope and trust in Him. But, do not confuse the hope and trust with the faithfulness upon which they rest.

A non-exhaustive list of more Scriptures to illustrate how I understand faith follows. There are many more verses I could list, and the vast majority seem to fit very well with my understanding of it. I have tried to include a few of these more difficult passages.

· Joh 3:15 that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

o That is, everyone who is devoted to Him.

· Rom 1:5 by whom we received grace and apostleship to obedience of faith among all the nations, for His name's sake,

o Notice “obedience of faith”, which seems to mean “faithful obedience” or “obedience that devotion causes”.

· Eph 2:8 For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Eph 2:9 not of works, that not anyone should boast;

o God’s grace is illustrated by His acceptance of those who devote themselves to Him, regardless of their past sins.

· Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.

o Note that the word for ‘on’ has the sense of ‘onto’ or ‘towards’, so it may saying ‘be devoted towards the Lord Jesus Christ’. Alternatively, it could be metaphorically meaning joining the Lord Jesus Christ in devotion. Nevertheless, it is certainly not merely saying ‘believe Christ died and rose again for your sins.’

· Rom 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ toward all and upon all those believing; for there is no difference,

o That is, “Jesus Christ’s devotion” – or “devotion like Jesus Christ’s”.

· Romans 14:23b Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

o If doing something is unfaithful, or disloyal, towards God – then it is sin.

· 2 Corinthians 5:7 We walk by faith, not by sight.

o This means we act because of our faithfulness/loyalty/devotion to God, and not because of what we see.

· 1Jo 3:23 And this is His commandment, that we should believe the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as He gave command to us.

o In Greek, ‘the name’ carries far more than in English, and is used for everything the name covers, such as the character, interests, commands, or mission of the person. It is perhaps best understood here in the sense of His entire character – His teachings, commands, nature, etc.

· Mar 11:22 And answering, Jesus said to them, Have faith of God. Mar 11:23 For truly I say to you, Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and be thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be to him, whatever he says. Mar 11:24 Therefore I say to you, All things, whatever you ask, praying, believe that you will receive, and it will be to you.

o It should be noted that you can be committed to something that is not a person – in the sense of being devoted to, or following an idea, rule, code of conduct, goal, etc. Likewise, you can have faith in the sense of ‘active, faithful commitment’ to these things. Yet, note that it is more than ‘belief’ in the English sense, because the Greek word carries with more than mere mental assent – but action in the sense of being faithful to it. So, for example, to ‘believe the Gospel’ (Mark 1:15) is not mere mental agreement, but it is to loyally follow the Gospel.

o First, in v22, it could either be saying “have faithfulness/devotion/loyalty like God’s” – or “have faithfulness/devotion/loyalty toward God”. Jesus states this in answer to Peter’s remark about the fig tree, which Jesus cursed because it had not born fruit. The fig tree, then, was not faithfully producing fruit. It seems, therefore, Jesus was talking about having the undying, committed, total faithfulness that God has – rather than illustrating who such commitment should be directed toward.

o Such an idea is continued in verses 23 and 24. In the Greek, ‘doubt’ means to ‘separate thoroughly’ or to ‘withdraw from’, and appears in this context to have the meaning of withdrawing away from faithfulness. Combining this idea with that of ‘believe’ in the sense of being faithful/committed/following and the meaning becomes rather sensible…

§ “If you decide to move a mountain, and faithfully work toward that goal without giving up on it, then it will get done. So, what ever you pray for, work towards it faithfully with unwavering commitment and it will eventually become reality.”

o Sure, it’s not the meaning most Christians (including myself) would love to give it – but it seems to resound to me with a good deal of commonsense. Compare this with Heb 11.

o Note that this story is paralleled in Mat 17:20, where such faithfulness is likened to a mustard seed… The disciples ask why they could not cast out a demon, and Jesus responded frankly “because of your unfaithfulness”. Their ‘unbelief’ was nothing to do with how much they thought it would happen, their hope, their expectation, and suchlike – but everything with how faithful they had been to God.

· 1Pe 5:8 Be sensible, watch, because your adversary the Devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking someone he may devour; 1Pe 5:9 whom firmly resist in the faith…

o This verse clearly combines the idea of remaining strongly committed with ‘faith’, so that we are not ‘devoured by the Devil’. Again, the meaning is clear – that ‘faith’ toward God is committed, loyal, and unwavering.

· Jam 2:26 For as the body is dead apart from the spirit, so also faith is dead apart from works.

o Can a soldier in the army be loyal to the commander without doing anything to help the fight? No, loyalty necessitates actions – for otherwise it is not truly being loyal/faithful.

· Jam 2:19 You believe that there is one God, and you do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

o Note here what the ‘believing’ refers to – ‘that there is one God’. Indeed, the demons are committed to the fact that there is one God – and but they are not committed to God.

· Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful who promised), Heb 10:24 and let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works,

o Again, there is the idea of full devotion to God and His ways, without ‘wavering’ (the Greek here for ‘wavering’ means ‘reclining’ or ‘to slope’). There is also the common theme of faithfulness leading to good works – which is a natural result of being loyal to / allied with God.

· Heb 10:38 "But the just shall live by faith;" "and if he draws back," "My soul is not pleased in him." (Hab. 2:4; Zeph. 1:6; Mal. 1:10) Heb 10:39 But we are not of those withdrawing to destruction, but of faith, to the preservation of the soul.

o Here is another clear example of how understanding ‘faith’ as encompassing faithfulness / loyalty / devotion / allegiance provides a much clearer understanding of Scripture, where clearly the loyalty is to God. Note that God is not pleased with those who draw back on their loyalty to Him – becoming unfaithful.

· Heb 12:2 …looking to the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus…

o In Greek ‘author’ means ‘chief-leader’, and ‘finisher’ means ‘someone who perfects – a perfector’. The ‘our’ is not in the original. Thus, the verse tells us to imitate Jesus, who is the chief-leader and perfector of what it is to be faithful/devoted/loyal to God.

· Act 20:21 earnestly testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance to God and faith to our Lord Jesus Christ.

o The meaning of these sorts of verses should now be apparent – it is not a mental conviction regarding Jesus that saves us, but rather being devoted to Him. We are to be ‘faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ’, by being loyal to Him and obeying His teachings.

· Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? Will not their unbelief nullify the faith of God?

o Here we see a clear example where reading ‘faithfulness’ for faith and ‘faithful’ for ‘believe’ makes a great deal more sense. It means, “For what if some [of the Jews] were unfaithful? Won’t their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?” Of course, Paul states this is not the case, for God remains faithful.

· Rom 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ toward all and upon all those believing; for there is no difference,

o That is, we are righteous by having faithfulness like Christ’s.

· Act 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, was doing wonders and great signs among the people.

o “full of faith” = faithful, to God and the teachings of Christ

· Act 20:21 earnestly testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

o The concept of “loyalty to someone” makes far more sense than ‘belief to someone’.

· Act 24:24 And after some days, Felix having arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul. And he heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

o Same story here – the Greek says “faith to Christ”. Most of the time when we read “faith in Christ” it either means ‘Christ’s faith’ or ‘loyalty to Christ’, depending on the Greek.

I recommend to have a read of Andrew’s recent posts here and here on faith, which explain things nicely also.

The troubled mind

Just sat down and wrote this... I find it helps me collect my thoughts sometimes, I wonder if anyone can relate...

These are the thoughts of a troubled mind
Searching for better fate to find
Wrestling, restless, thoughts inside
A cog in the clockwork hands of time

Questions creeping without relent
Echoing fears of discontent
Shrouded paths are bent astray
With soft lament, ambitions fade

How great the fall of highest dreams
How dizzying the stars
For light, for strength I have no need
But simply a place to start

So scarce to find, are answers gained
And doubts are certainty
But these are nothing in compare
To You being here with me

The 'Big Picture' series - introduction

If you have ever seen “The Gods must be Crazy”, you’ll remember the whole amusing story involves a glass coke bottle that is thrown from a plane and is found by some native Africans. Not knowing what its real use is – they invent a variety of new uses for it. The smooth surface is excellent for stretching skins over. It’s harder than most things they know of and so it’s also a great hammer. They find many uses for it.

Yet, they never really understood why it was what it was. And they didn’t understand what it was by investigating its material, geometry, or potential uses. They missed the intended purpose of the bottle (quite understandably), and all their explanations of what it was and what it did fell short because they didn’t understand the bigger picture.

Before I explain, let me give another analogy. Imagine you have no knowledge of motor vehicles – you might be in the early 10^th century. Though it would not be possible, imagine you were out for a walk one day and stumbled upon a car. But it’s not really a car – because all the hundreds of components that make up the car are all strewn randomly over the ground. No doubt you would be amazed at the gleaming mag wheels. Perhaps quite in awe of the precision-machined pistons and engine block – but these would all be separate. Everything down to the nuts and bolts would be disjoint.

“What is it?” you would think. And of course, you wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t even know that if you connect the battery to the head-lamp you could make light. You may find the fuel burns well to cook your food – but you’d have no idea that it could propel you at 200 km/h. Perhaps, like the Africans in Gods Must be Crazy, you’d think it was some mystical gift from God – something to be feared, revered and treasured. You’d put it to some use – in the simple ways you imagine – but you would never understand how to use it as a car. You’d miss the point because you don’t know the bigger picture.

I think you know where I am going with this. This describes at least a little, I think, of how Christians treat the Bible today. They speak of the ‘mysteries of the Gospel’, because they don’t see the bigger picture that is painted by the words, which would make sense of all the ‘mystery’. They treasure each little verse, believing it has its own special purpose – that it stands alone and separate from the other verses.

This type of thinking, of course, is very much a Western mindset. I think the mindset of people around the time of Christ was quite different, and is far more like Eastern Orthodox thinking than reformed evangelical. In the Eastern mindset, it makes little sense to break up Christianity into separately-boxed doctrines and then define and summarise each one – for each doctrine only has meaning in relation to the whole. Just like the steering wheel of a car has little meaning without a car on the end of it, so it is with individual teachings of Christianity without understanding the bigger picture.

It is for this reason, I feel, that Christianity these days seems ‘religious’. Without the context of how all the doctrines fit together, the emphasis is shifted from the purpose of the whole to accurately describing the parts. We must believe this certain ‘fact’ and this certain ‘truth’ and the understand of the bigger picture does not even enter consideration – perhaps people think so long as you have and can accurately describe all the parts of a car that you have a car. Not so.

So, what is this bigger picture of what it means to be a Christian I keep referring to? Well, over the next few posts, I hope to try and convey what I see as the bigger picture. It’s probably going to be quite different what you’ve often heard, so be warned. I’ll break it up into various topics, such as faith, sin, salvation, Jesus, the Kingdom of God, ‘justification’, forgiveness, perhaps the atonement again, and no doubt a few more. With each one, I’ll give a one or two sentence statement that summarises how it affects us, or what we should do in light of it.

Friendship

How much do our friends become part of us? This was my thought this morning. Many of my friends are away for the summer, and I feel like I’m in a way missing parts of myself. I initially thought this was quite weak really – that I should be so affected by my friends.

But then I realised that’s the whole marvellous thing about friendship – that you let other people have a place in your heart. Obviously, when they go, you’ll miss them – and you’ll miss the piece of your heart they fill.

I used to think that if I were mature enough I should be quite happy being perfectly alone. An almost oriental idea, isn’t it? But fortunately I have learned the value of friendship. It’s something I find myself reflecting on quite a bit, promising myself never to take friendship for granted.

But then, it strikes me how our friendships are on so many different levels. I wonder if my friendships are at good levels. Then I read in the Bible how “this is how they will know you are my disciples, that you love one another,” (Joh 13:35) and “We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us. That means we must give our lives for other believers.” (1 John 3:16). And upon reading that, I conclude my friendships are by in large much shallower than they ought to be.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have friends who, as I mentioned, I treasure. But how much do I love them? Would I die for them? These are challenging thoughts I find, because I’m not sure I’d be willing to die for many people, if any. Of course, I’d like to think I could rise to the heights of noble love and, like the proverbial stranger saving a child from a bus and being killed himself, lay down my life for others. But when it comes down to it, I’m really not sure I’m more self-centered than I think I am… and I already think I’m quite self-centered… but then we all are… that’s another post.

Which makes me wonder how I could become more loving a less self-centered… to be more of a true friend, who’s interest lies with others instead of myself. Of course, I should ‘be more like Christ’, and other such well-known answers. But I know saying these things is merely talking of nice ideas that never actually make me change anything.

No, it’s quite clear to me when I think about it. As I thought about Mat 25:42-46 it hit me how practical Jesus’ advice is. I cannot ‘love my friends more’ in my mind without doing anything to actually be more loving toward them. If I want to be more loving, I must love more. I must be more kind and generous in practical ways – because I cannot pretend to be more kind and generous than I actually am, otherwise I would be a hypocrite, deceiving myself.

It’s the little things in life that reveal our character. It’s in those little things that I could show love, things like getting someone a drink, doing the dishes, actually listening when someone’s talking to me… the list goes on and on.

So, I could improve my friendships by being a better friend. Nothing new there. It reminds me of a quote: “the only consistent thing about all your dissatisfying relationships is you.”

If I want more friends, I know how to go about it. But the irony is I’ve already decided how many friends I want by how I live. And so, I wonder if I really want more friends… or whether I just dissatisfied because I’m not being a good friend to the friends I have, and my friendships aren’t as close as I’d like them to be. I wonder if other people have this trouble.

After all, you can’t be close friends with everybody. You only have so much time in the day, and you can’t spend all day with everyone. So, it makes me realise it’s probably quite necessary to have some friends who are closer than others (again, hardly a breathtaking revelation). And I guess that’s the way it works: many shallower friendships, or fewer deep ones.

I wish it didn’t work that way.

Yet, you can be friendly to everybody… even strangers. And that I think is the challenge, the simple act of putting the happiness of others before one’s own, as one goes about daily life. If only it were that easy to do.

Brings me back to a comment I’ve made before about self-centeredness. It truly is the root of everything evil.

So, I think I’ll try and be a bit less self-centered, and be a better friend to those I know.