Passing (or Failing) the "Test"

In the past three years at Cedarbrook, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. Occassionally, someone will come up to me or call me and ask me a series of questions. Questions like; What denomination are you? Do you say the Lord's Prayer on Sunday? Do you baptize infants or adults? Do you allow women in leadership positions? Do you preach "once saved, always saved."

Now, in one respect, there's nothing wrong with these questions. People certainly have the right to know the answer to these questions and most others. Many people are trying to find out if Cedarbrook is like the church that they are used to attending. But it always makes me feel a bit odd. I feel like I'm being tested and I can almost guarantee that whenever I'm asked these questions, I fail the test! In fact, sometimes I'll good-naturedly tease people a bit by smiling and asking, "How'd I do? Did I pass?"

I think what makes me uneasy (especially when the questions are more theological in nature) is that people are presuming that what THEY believe about God is true. And if Cedarbrook doesn't believe what they believe, then we are wrong. That may be. I don't make any claim to having the corner on all truth.

But it's important to remember that every church in the New Testament had its share of bad theology. The apostle Paul didn't write his letters to the churches merely to affirm how well they were doing. He often wrote them to correct their bad theology. Yet, in spite of this, lives were being changed and set free and miracles were being performed. I don't know about you, but I much rather attend the Church at Corinth, with all their problems and experience the gifts of the Spirit, than attend some church that has perfect theology but bores me to tears. It's so sad to see people walk away from a church experience that I know will bless them simply because my answers failed their test.

Let me suggest some better questions if you are ever looking for a church:

• Are lives being changed here ?
• Do people get to know God better here ?
• Is the fruit of God's Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.) manifested in people's lives ?
• Do people learn not only how to know the Bible but how to live the Bible ?
• Do people that attend here become better people ?

Now that's a "test" that I think I could pass!

Distinguishing Belief and Faith

As I worked my way through my recent series on How to Find Faith, I found myself distinguishing between "belief" and "faith". People often use them interchangably but they are worlds apart.

To believe is merely an intellectual exercise. You can believe in all kinds of things and not have it impact your life. For example, I've believed in George Washington all my life, but George has never made a difference in my life. The same is true for people who believe in Jesus. Simply believing in the fact that he lived on earth and even was/is the Son of God is meaningless if you haven't allowed that belief to impact you. Faith begins where belief ends.

To believe in Jesus is rational. But putting faith in Jesus is irrational! It doesn't make sense to the logical mind. The person who puts faith in Jesus risks giving up control of their daily life to entrust it to an invisible God. Think of two people who "believe" in airplanes yet one never risks flying while the other does. The person who flies has "faith" in airplanes. They have so much confidence in airplanes that they are willing to risk their life to ride one. And since they are willing to risk giving up control and riding an airplane, their life is dramatically impacted. They can be across the world in less than a day to see things that they would never see otherwise.

So it is with faith in God. To "believe" in God means nothing unless you are willing to risk your life to his guidance and yield yourself to His power to live a new life. Don't kid yourself into thinking that believing is enough. God asks for more than your belief. The Bible tells us that God's people live by faith. For more on this read sermons 8 & 9 of my series, How to Find Faith in a World of Doubt.

How to Approach Reading the Bible (Part 5)

Here are my last two thoughts on how to approach the Bible...

9. Read the Bible to be more, live more and do more, not just know more.
The Bible is such a fascinating book that it’s easy to read it and never apply it. I was talking to someone yesterday about end time prophecy. They wondered if I ever taught on it and I said “No, I don’t. I purposefully avoid it because it’s too easy for people to get caught up in the end times discussion and forget about how God wants them to live their life today.”

Some times we forget that the goal of our Bible reading should be to know God, to know our own heart, to live life more fully and to learn how to love others. It shouldn't be a contest to see who can quote the most Bible verses or who can read the most pages.

10. Approach the Bible often.
Don’t let it collect dust. Two years ago I spoke on the importance of reading the Bible at church and one of my members decided that he knew a lot about a many things but he had never read the Bible through from cover to cover. So he decided he was going to do just that. Now, two years later, he is just finishing the last few pages of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. He said that he was surprised how enjoyable his daily reading was. He could hardly wait to see what was going to happen next in each story. He kept notes of key themes and verses and he reduced it to three pages of notes to help him remember the most important things that God showed him in his reading. I recommend the same to you. You don't have to believe that the Bible is divine to get anything out of it. Just read it. You might be surprised to hear God speaking to you through it.

How to Approach Reading the Bible (Part 4)

7. Know the Big Story before you interpret the small ones.
If you don’t know the big picture in the Bible, you will tend to interpret verses according to your own biases. For example, the overall story has to do with God including people. So if you find yourself always reading the Bible in a way that judges and excludes people, then you are probably missing the point.

8. Read the Bible with others, not just by yourself.
The Bible wasn’t written for individuals. It was written for the community of faith. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have our own Bible or that we should never read it alone but we need to understand that God wants to speak to us as a community of believers, not a group of individuals. Most of the New Testament is letters written to churches not individuals. So I encourage you to read your Bible but get together with other believers to read it with them as well as.

How to Approach Reading the Bible (Part 3)

5. Read the Bible like a story book, not a cookbook.
What I mean by this is that our lives are stories, not recipes. We have a tendency to want to make everything simple. We want to read about three easy steps to health, wealth and success in life – add a cup of this and a pinch of that and presto! – the results you wanted. But the stories aren’t like that in the Bible and they aren’t like that in our lives either.

Have you noticed? Marriages don’t always work. Children don’t always turn out the way you planned. We don’t always get the perfect job that solves all of our financial problems. But what’s true of every story in the Bible is that God is there. God is there in the midst of the pain and the problems. And God wants us to know that that can be our story too. If we will start to acknowledge God in our presence then our circumstances may not change but our sense of turmoil will. With our hand in God’s hand, suddenly life is not so threatening and we can see more clearly and breathe more easily.

6. Let the Bible conquer you instead of you trying to conquer it.
Part of approaching the Bible with humility is understanding that no matter how much you read or how much you know, it will always be bigger than you are. You can’t master the Bible like you can some other book. The Bible is too deep to master. So rather than try to master the Bible, why not let it master you? Let it transform you by doing what it says and not just reading what it says. I bet there are a lot of people in Bible schools and seminaries today who have the wrong motivation in their study. They want to become “experts of the Bible” but God is simply calling them to become “experts at life” and wants them to read the Bible as their guidebook.

How to Approach Reading the Bible (Part 2)

I make attempts at playing golf. People in the know tell me that how you approach the ball has alot to do with how well you will hit it. I'm not talking about how you walk up to the ball but how you position your body in relation to the ball...the distance between you and the ball, where the ball is in relation to your left or right foot, your posture, etc.

I think the same can be said about approaching the Bible. What you get out of it has a lot to do with the attitudes that you bring to it. Here are my next two points (out of ten)...

3. Read for quality, not quantity.
I think it’s great when people get ambitious and decide to read the whole Bible in a year. Or they decide to read a chapter a day. That can be good to give you the big picture of what’s going on. But it can also make you miss the point of why you are reading the Bible in the first place. Our goal is to hear from God so don’t be afraid to just read a few words or sentences and meditate on them until they become relevant to your life. Let the words be a mirror, giving you insight into your own heart and then ask God what he wants to tell you about what you see. (Hint: God's voice is encouraging, not condemning.)

4. Read for questions, not just answers.
Some times people say things like: The Bible will answer all your questions about God and life. No it won’t. If it could then it would only prove that either the Bible is false or God doesn’t exist! Nothing can answer all your questions about God because God is too big to be reduced to words. So, when you read the Bible, expect to have questions and don’t worry if you don’t get them answered right away. Questions stimulate us to want to know more about God while too many answers tend to make us think that we’ve got God all figured out.

part three to follow...

How to Approach Reading the Bible

The Bible has taken a lot of flack over the years for not being all that people have made it out to be but I think it's greatest claim to truth is how it speaks to an individuals heart. You see, the Bible is a book of stories, stories of people who walk with God or without God. When we compare our story to these stories we often find our heart resonating. We go "Hey, this happened 3,000 years ago but it's happening in my life today in the same way." That's because we are all human and as humans we share a lot of things in common. This resonance gives the Bible a lot of credibility to me and I think it will to you too if you just read it.

I shared seven examples of how the Bible rings true to me in my message yesterday, Can the Bible Help Me To Find Faith? I'll let you click the link to read about that but I'll share here, Ten Ways to Approach Reading the Bible, also in my sermon (loosely adapted from Brian McLaren's book Adventures in Missing the Point).

1. Come with an open mind and a humble heart.
Too often people come to the Bible with an attitude of unbelief or an agenda to prove. They come doubting everything or just wanting to justify what they already believe. But you need to check all that at the door and simply ask God to show you what is true. You can’t hear from God when you’ve got earplugs in! So come like an innocent child with fresh ears to hear what God has to say to you.

2. Understand and appreciate the literature forms.
This has to do with interpreting the Bible literally versus figuratively. Some times we are supposed to take the Bible literally and you need to learn when that is. Other times you need to take it figuratively so you need to understand the cues to know which is which. You see, the Bible uses a variety of ways to communicate its message. Some times it uses poetry, some times it tells a story, and sometimes it just gives commands. Sometimes the writer exaggerates to make his point. Some times he uses understatement or even sarcasm. So just be aware of these styles when you read.

more points to come...

Is there one way, or many ways, to God?

I came across a great Hoobastank song that expresses frustration at people who are so narrow minded as to believe that there is only one way to God. Here are some of the lyrics for "Same Direction"...

...everyone thinks they're right

And nobody thinks that there just might

Be more than one road to our final destination

So why does there only have to be one correct philosophy?

I don't want to go and follow you just to end up like one of them

And why are you always telling me what you want me to believe?

I'd like to think that i can go my own way and meet you in the end.

I think the song embodies the belief of many people today. But are they right? I know it sounds good. I addressed this in my Sunday message, Faith Options...Are there many ways to God? Let me share four points that I closed with from Brian McLaren's book, Finding Faith. I really think they bring a good balance to the whole discussion...

1. Honor the truth wherever you find it. Jesus may be the way to connect with God, but that doesn't mean that other religions don't have any truth. It's important that we have the honesty to admit it.
2. Honor the glory wherever you find it. When we find examples of dedication, faith, compassion, sacrifice or beauty, it doesn't matter what faith the person has. These qualities are good regardless of the faith. The fact that the person is not Christian doesn't invalidate the virtue.
3. Honor people, even when you disagree. When we honor people, we honor God, even when people don't agree with us.
4. It's okay to not know. The big question that people often have about Christianity is, "What happens to people who never hear about Jesus?" Many people have assumed that they automatically go to hell. That answer has turned people away from the faith. They don't want to be a part of that kind of religion. But the truth is we don't know. The Bible doesn't say. It's pure speculation, and personally, I think it's poor speculation. It's not consistent with what we know about God. But I won't speculate the other way either. That's the point - it's okay to not know. I like what Abraham said, "Won't the Judge of the whole earth do justly?" I rest in that.

Am I Seeker Sensitive?

I had a conversation with some folks recently about my philosophy of preaching and I thought it might interest some people, at least who attend Cedarbrook. It got started as we talked about whether Cedarbrook is a "seeker" church or "seeker-sensitive".

You might not know this but churches often categorize themselves as "believer focused" (having the committed Christian in mind), "seeker focused" (having the spiritual seeker in mind), and "seeker sensitive" (having the believer in mind but also sensitive to the fact that there are seekers in the audience). Many people would say that Cedarbrook is a seeker church, but as is often the case, I reject being labeled.

In regard to preaching, my goal is to address the needs of seekers and believers because we are all human and as humans we share common needs. I don't like making distinctions because I think we have much more in common as just plain people than we care to admit. We all have fears, we all get angry, we all long for God (at least at some level), etc. etc. Maybe the best term for me is "people-sensitive".

While I'm teaching the seeker the basics, I'm trying to re-teach the believer because I don't think they necessarily see things from a biblical viewpoint. Many people learned about God, Jesus and faith through a very "works" oriented grid tinged with judgmentalism. I try to teach people how to think through a grid of grace. And I try to teach them how to do what they believe, not to just know what they believe.

Some people may not be used to how practical I am and confuse that with being seeker oriented. Maybe they think that believers should be taught more about what the Bible says and not spend so much time on the application - that the application is obvious. But the application isn't obvious. That's why believers get accused of being hypocrites. We talk a good game but we don't live it. More on this later...

Reflecting on Intelligient Design

I graduated from college with a degree in Biology. So looking at faith with a scientific eye was not foreign to me. I became a Christian in college and so I read a lot about the creation vs. evolution debate back then. But eventually I grew tired of it. There was so much to know and everyone was convinced that the other side was stupid. It was a negative conversation, so I dropped it. I haven't read or talked much about it. When someone raised the issue I often deflected it by recommending a book, but not wanting to get sucked into the debate myself.

But my recent sermon series (How to Find Faith in a World of Doubt) led me to address the need for evidence for God. I read two excellent books, The Case for a Creator and More Than Meets the Eye. I was surprised how science had swung so much in the past thirty years to support faith rather than contradict it. I admit I gave these books a quick read, but I came up with six observations that I think can be converted into evidence for God if someone chose to believe that God was behind these observations. Here they are;

1. The universe was created. It didn't always exist. Einstein's theory tells us that there was a starting point to the universe. And it came from nothing.
2. The earth is located in a life-friendly pocket of a life-threatening universe. What are the odds of earth being so perfectly located in a place that supports life? (Not to mention the coincidence that life was created in the first place).
3. Many variables have converged to make life possible. Science has proven that there is an incredible number of variables that have been calibrated to infintisimal decimal points to sustain life. It's as if they have all lined up on a razor's edge - if they were to tip in one direction or another, life would not be sustainable on earth.
4. Irreducibly complex entities exist. Entities like the human cell or the eyeball need to have every component in place to exist. So how does an entity like this evolve, one mutation at a time?
5. DNA is a program for life. There are three billion pairings in the human genome. It looks very much like a computer code. We would never suggest that a computer program spontaneously evolved over time yet we are comfortable to say that this happened in DNA.
6. Human beings have consciousness. Why? How? We take our ability to reflect and observe for granted yet it is unique to humans, at least at the sophisticated level that it is.

There is an eight page summary of The Case for a Creator on our website. But the book itself is a great read if you have the time. (By the way, for those of you in the know, the writer of the summary made a mistake when he referred to the type of galaxy that we are in.)

The Role of Doubt in Finding Faith

Doubt is an interesting topic in the search for faith. It's often seen as the antithesis of faith but it's not. Apathy is. If you truly didn't believe, you wouldn't even care about God. But doubt shows that you do believe, you are just struggling with your belief.

The truth is that we often doubt what we believe just like we argue with those we love. If we didn't love them, we wouldn't bother to argue. In the same way, if we didn't believe at some level, we'd have no reason to doubt. So doubt doesn't prove you don't believe in God any more than an argument with my wife proves that I don't love her.

Many of us hate conflict because we don't like to argue. We'll avoid it like the plague, just trying to act like everything is okay when it's really not. It dawned on me a number of years ago that conflict can actually produce intimacy in a relationship if I'll let it. You see, it's through disagreeing with someone and talking about that disagreement that I come to know them better. They get to know me better as well. Talking through a conflict will help me to draw closer to my wife or child or friend because we'll both appreciate things about each other that we never knew before.

It's the same with doubt. We are often so ashamed of our doubt (regarding God) that we don't want to admit it to anyone, even ourselves. We just quietly nod in agreement when God is discussed and hope that our nagging doubt gets resolved on its own.

But doubt can actually be good for our faith. Healthy doubt tells us that there's something wrong in our thinking that we need to take a look at. Doubt is really internal conflict. And, if you are willing to face it, it will produce a greater sense of intimacy with God. So don't fear your doubt, face it, and invite God into the process of resolving your doubt. It's not something that you have to suffer alone. He WANTS to help you sort everything out.

Bad Faith vs. Good Faith (Part 4)

See posts below for background... (read the full sermon here)

Monologue vs. Dialogue - Bad faith has everything figured out and wants to tell you all about it. But don't try to talk back because they don't want to hear it. Bad faith only has one-way conversations whereas good faith is open to dialogue. I have a friend who has engaged me in dialogue about the possibility of gay marriages. He is working through his theology and thinking and turned to me for my input since he knows that I don't agree with gay marriage. I'm happy to correspond about this because it's an important issue. I could tell him to not waste his time, it's wrong and why bother. But I told him just the opposite. I told him that even though I don't agree, someone has to be asking these questions - turning over every rock, so to speak, to make sure that we haven't missed anything in our certainty. Love and grace demands it, don't you think?

Selfishness vs. Sacrifice - Bad faith is in it just for what they can get out of it. The corrupt TV evangelist wants your money and a diamond ring, we want to be saved from hell and happy. But good faith moves beyond self-interest and seeks the benefit of God and others. How do we benefit God? I suppose we can't, but thanking, praising and obeying him are means to honor him with our lives. We recognize him in these ways just like we would any other person. In addition to God, good faith seeks to be people through our personal sacrifice - the giving of our time, our talent and our finances.

Mutual respect, Free Choice, Responsibility, Relationship, Dialogue and Sacrifice are all markers of good faith. When we see these things eminately from a person we are attracted to faith. It lifts our spirit and draws us to God. But when we see the opposite, it drops a wall in our heart and turns us inward. We go into a defensive posture and insist that we will never become a person of faith if faith means to be these things.

If you are seeking to find faith, I hope that you won't be scared away by bad faith. And in your pursuit of faith, I hope that you will cling to only that which is good and reject all that's bad.

Bad Faith vs. Good Faith (Part 3)

See previous posts for background...

Irresponsible vs. Responsible - We've all known people of faith who would rather talk about Jesus saving them than lifting a finger to help with the job at hand. They leave the work to "unbelievers" while they do "the work of God". The truth is they are using bad faith as an excuse to shirk their responsibility - just another form of denial that has probably defined their life. Bad faith may be used on a larger scale, say, regarding the environment. Rather than deal with the problems and complexities of being a good steward of God's creation, bad faith says that "Jesus is coming soon so it doesn't matter what we do to the earth."

But good faith actually takes on more responsibility. Good faith sees that life is not about the individual but life is about the community; family, local and global. Where they were once concerned only for themselves they are suddenly concerned about all people everywhere as well as all of God's creation. Good faith sees life as a stewardship or an entrustment of the riches that God has given to us.

Rules vs. Relationships - Like the Pharisees of Jesus day, bad faith focuses on obeying rules not developing relationship. Relationships are expendible but rules are sacred. Bad faith spends an inordinate amount of time of studying the rules, executing the rules and judging the success and (mostly) failure of others who attempt to fulfill the rules. But good faith understands that "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life" and that "mercy triumphs over judgment". Good faith seeks to keep the unity of the faith, prefers one another and accepts one another. Good faith goes out of it's way to maintain relationship and only breaks relationship after every other attempt at reconciliation and restoration fails.

Bad Faith vs. Good Faith (Part 2)

I'm continuing on from the post below contrasting bad faith with good faith...

Simplistic vs. Complex - I've always appreciated the focused simplicity of what Paul said in Corinthians, that, he preached Christ and him crucified, period. I even wrote here in my blog about that a while ago. Every believer should keep their faith that simple. But simple does not mean simplistic. When seekers have troubling questions about evil and hatred and car bombs and hurricanes that destroy entire cities it's offensive to resort to the refrain, "You just have to believe!" or "It's all about loving Jesus!"

We are complex people living in a complex world in a complex universe. Any microscope or telescope will tell you that. Bad faith always wants to reduce lifes complexities and loses the wonder of creation. Bad faith seems to fear that if the big questions are asked that it may destroy faith and then where would it be? So it's safer to just play dumb, kind of a "don't ask, don't tell" mentality regarding faith.

But good faith believes that God is bigger than any question. No answer will destroy God. We don't have to fear losing God among the complexities of life. In fact, without God the complexities can never be unearthed, mined and marveled at.

Bad Faith vs. Good Faith

I'm fleshing out my message for Sunday so let me use you as my guinea pig! Brian Mclaren (see post below about the book "Finding Faith") says that the number one enemy of true faith isn't atheism or false religion but bad faith, that is, bad examples of what it means to know and/or follow God.

It's easy to take pot-shots at the big hyocrisy of others; the Crusades, the foolish and corrupt TV evangelists or the child molestation cases among priests and other ministers. But bad faith is more pervasive and subtle than that. Let me list six contrasts between bad and good faith.

Unquestioned Authority vs. Mutual Respect. Bad faith is final. It's set in stone. There is little or no mystery to God. It's been disected and labeled so that there is no longer a reason to think or question. That's all been done for you by people much wiser and more spiritual. But good faith allows questions because it knows that God is bigger than any box you can put him in. Questions enlarge our view of God and makes him even more worthy of praise. Plus, questions make sure that our faith is good, that we haven't overlooked something or assumed something or taken things for granted. A questioning faith is what keeps faith fresh, authentic and true. Good faith respects, honors and encourages the right of people to think their thoughts and hear from God, not just parrot the thoughts of others.

Forced Choice vs. Free Choice. Bad faith has a surprisingly low view of God. Bad faith doesn't think that God can speak to people, or at least that people don't have the ability to hear from God when he speaks. It doesn't believe what Jesus said, that "My sheep hear my voice" and "I will send my Spirit to lead them into all truth." Because of this, bad faith feels compelled to coerce people into their way of thinking. They would confess, "Yes, it's a bit manipulative but it's really for their own good. They'll thank us some day!" But good faith, though passionate and directive, leaves the choice to the individual. Each person is responsible to God alone, which frees good faith from the burden of having to make sure that everyone does the right thing all the time.

More later...

Choosing Between Dread and Desire

Proverbs 10:24 struck me as I read it this morning...
"What the wicked dread will overtake them;
What the righteous desire will be granted."

I love Proverbs because its sayings are able to capture truth and relate it so concisely. It takes things that I have observed and puts them into a memorable saying.

This proverb immediately reminded me of people that have complained to me about their lives. Their lives have been bad...one misfortune after another. In fact there are so many misfortunes lined up that after a while it appears that they are almost cursed. This sense of doom ( or "dread") then leaves a cloud over them. Their head is cast down as they brace for the next storm.

But what they don't see in all of this doom and gloom is that, where the original misfortunes were truly coincidental, much of the subsequent pain was self-induced. They rarely see it. They would protest wildly if pointed out. But they have no concept of how their negative attitude has altered their thinking and they are now actually choosing problems. Of course, they don't choose a specific calamity. For example, if someone is hit by a car, they didn't throw themselves in front of it. But maybe they were so down on their luck that they drank all day. Then they chose to walk in the street instead of the sidewalk. When they saw the car they couldn't react in time and BAM, they got hit. Now they have another tragic story to sing their dirge about. Do you see what I mean when I say that it is self-induced? But they interpret that event as God punishing them.

In contrast to this is the person with a godly desire. They are filled with the hope and joy that only God can give. Though trials come their way they keep the hope of resurrection ever before them because that is God's story - not only for Jesus - but for all of his children. No matter what comes their way, they are convinced that they can be an overcomer. They have a desire to succeed, to be victorious in spite of their circumstances and Proverbs tells us that that desire will be granted by God.

Two people. Two lives. One leads to ruin and the other to victory. Is God playing favorites? No. One has chosen desire and one dread. Choice is a powerful thing - for good and evil. The moment you choose to let God be a part of your life equation and expect him to do good things, you have just opened up the windows of heaven to receive all it's blessing. But when you are filled with dread you nail those same windows shut.

We all have a lot more to say about how our story reads than we realize. Choose wisely.

The Cost of Finding Faith

Last week I shared how I came to faith along with some principles that others can glean from my experience (at church). This week I'll be looking at an overview of what a search for faith entails.

Jesus said that it's wise for a person to count the cost of anything they decide to do. So what is the cost of a search for faith? Four things come to mind...

1. Determination & Patience. Faith isn't something you can pick up over your lunch hour or during halftime on Sunday. Finding faith takes work. Nothing good comes easy and it's foolish to search for the most important thing in life half-heartedly.
2. Honesty. A true search for faith is a look inward as much as it is a look outward. A search for faith is ultimately a search for God and the closer you get to God the greater a sense of self-awareness you'll have. Are you willing to look in the mirror and see the layers of denial and self-interest peeled back?
3. Reason. We often speak of faith as if it were a substitute for reason..."blind faith" or a "leap of faith". When someone asks a person of faith for some hard evidence, the simplistic answer is often "Just believe". Sorry, that doesn't cut it. True faith IS based on evidence just like a good jury trial. We collect evidence until we can make a conclusion - not based on being at the scene of the crime - but the quality of evidence at hand. Faith doesn't negate intelligence, it engages it.
4. Your whole life. You may not start your quest for faith willing to give your life but I assure you that that is where it will end if you do indeed find faith. God doesn't negotiate with us in this venture. At some point you will need to decide if you are willing to go all the way with God or not. He doesn't bargain. There are no half-price sales in faith. The cost is your life.

Bad Reasons to Believe

In the faith process there are good reasons to believe and bad ones.

Some people come to "faith" out of desperation. Their world caved in on them and they are looking for a quick fix. I'm not saying that a time of crisis is never a time to come to faith. To the contrary, it happens all the time. Often, times of crisis are what opens our eyes and ears to finally hear what God has been saying to us for a long time.

But many people aren't sincere when they come to God in crisis. I see this often as a pastor. People show up to a service or call for prayer or meet me once or twice in counseling. They'll "do anything" for God but what they really want is to rub a genie's lantern and get their wish. When God doesn't perform for them they "lose" their faith. The truth is, they never had faith. They just wanted their problems to go away.

There is danger in desperation not only because it can lead to insincerity but because desperation may cause a person to grab onto a bad faith that promises more than it can deliver. Brian McLaren talks about this type person when he says...
"...they jump on the assembly line of cults and extremist groups, ready to conform, ready to make false confessions, ready to sacrifice their personal responsibilty for the benefit of belonging to a group that is sure about everything." (Finding Faith, page 15)

In times of crisis and chaos, we can be so desperate for an answer that we'll accept any answer as long as it's certain. We may not want to hear, "We don't know how this is going to turn out but you can trust that God will be with you through it." That's often not good enough and so we look for the person who will tell us what we want to hear.

But desperation isn't the only bad reason to believe. Maybe you are lonely and looking for relationships. Maybe you are insecure and looking for affirmation. Maybe you are rebellious and looking to make a statement to your parents or others. Again, faith can answer the loneliness and insecurity issues but if you are grasping at anything to kill the pain then it's not a good reason for faith. Once your need is pacified you'll move on to other things.

Surprisingly, bad reasons to believe don't always end in an aborted faith. Sometimes people are truly converted in spite of themselves! Their mixed motives bring them close to God where God is able to gain their ear and draw them to Himself. But ideally we want to approach God with purer motives if possible.

Deconstructing Your Faith

As I approach my new series on "how to find faith" (September 4) I'm anticipating that for many believers, this series will challenge their faith in a way that's surprising. As I help those with no faith process the road to faith, undoubtedly there will be some (if not many) that have a faith that will realize that the faith they have no longer holds water. They will realize that their faith is not a good faith and before they can go forward they really need to go back - to "deconstruct" their faith - to dismantle it and start over.

For some, this will feel like losing faith. What once was so sure, so settled, will suddenly become weak and possibly even give way completely. That's not a bad thing if their faith was built on a foundation of sand to begin with. What IS bad is to have a faith that leads to a superficial or self-serving lifestyle. What IS bad is to have a faith that allows oppression and injustice in the home the church or the world. What IS bad is to have a faith that doesn't connect with God but only produces meaningless religious activity. So the best thing a true seeker can do is to back up and make sure their faith is solid - that it's a faith that pleases God.

I think many people come to a quick conclusion about faith and as a result it either leads them to a bad place or a boring place. But I want to encourage you to take time in your approach to faith. I don't mean be lax or lazy about it. I mean be willing to ask lots of questions. Don't assume too much or jump to conclusions. It's like marriage. There are many divorces because there are few that take a slow and reasoned approach to their commitment. In the same way, there are many who jettison their "faith" because they mistakenly "came to faith" for the wrong reasons. I'll talk about those reasons soon.

Are You Afraid of Jesus?

I met with a young man the other day who was clearly in the grasp of God. It was like I could see his mind changing and his whole life shifting in front of me.

I got a kick out of what he said though. He said he was reading through the Old Testament and enjoying it. But he was afraid to get to the part about Jesus. When I asked him why he said that, he was afraid that he'd believe it. I said, "So what's wrong with that?" And he said, "I don't know if I can do it. And I don't know if I want to be like that." "Be like what?" I asked. "Well, you know, religious - go to church all the time and never swear and be nice." I laughed and told him that God wasn't grabbing a hold of him so he could be nice and religious. How boring is that?

Did he really think that the God of the universe, the God who spoke the world into existence, has nothing more exciting to do in his life than to make him nice? I told him that God wants to flip every switch inside of him and make him more alive than he's ever been. God wants to "pull out all the stops" and breathe life into him like he's never lived it before.

He stopped me and said that that was already true. He said that his world had turned to black and white after his girlfriend died. He became self-destructive and cruel. But ever since he started being open to God the color has come back into his life. The grass was greener and the sky was bluer than it had ever been. He smelled things that he hadn't smelled in years.

I said, "That's just the beginning. God wants to show you things and do things in your life that you haven't even dreamed of. So throw out your ideas of what it means to be religious and get ready for God to blow you away."

It was quite the conversation. I don't know if I've ever shared my faith with someone who lit up quite like he did. I tell you about it here because maybe you need to hear these things. Maybe you are hesitating to follow Jesus because you are afraid that he will subtract from your life and not add to it. Don't believe that for a minute. He's got things in store for you that you can't imagine. So don't lose another minute. Life is too short.