This is more an epistemological question than any
other. The knowledge of who I am as a
being of faith is vital to my ability to have deeper faith. It is easy to give those who wish to follow
Christ a list of dos and don’ts. I can
easily make a list of behaviors that once checked for the day assures me that I
am a “good Christian.” There is a place for examining behavior to
measure our faith and following but it is not the behavior that is the prime
mover.
These things can move in two ways. The first is that I do this or that because I
want to follow Christ. While this is
good it is not where depth of faith is found.
It is the measure that other men use to evaluate the genuineness of our
beliefs. Men judge us based on what we
do and all the more severely when we claim to follow Christ. The problem is that one can do the things
proscribed and still not have a heart that sees the source of these things.
While doing good things can earn us favor with men it can
never give us favor with God. If I am to
deepen my faith I must realize who I am and use that as a motivation for what I
do. Deeper faith and closer following is
much more about seeing who I am over and above what I do.
If I truly see that I am someone who God loves and accepts
no matter what I have or have not done then I can learn that I have value. It is what I see in my own being that must
motivate me to do those things. My heart
must see that God wishes me to connect with him and then from that connection
work out the message that he desires to connect with everyone.
Faith and following must flow from a clear realization that I
was made and redeemed for a purpose. If
my “good deeds” flow from my desire for others to connect to Christ then I
become a prism to translate the light.
God does not need me for this but it is the way he has chosen.
When we look at the deeds of “Christians” to measure our
understanding of God we get it backwards and faith becomes difficult. It is in connecting to the truth of who I am
that I find the motivation and power to express this being to others by doing
what is good. I will always be
frustrated if I look to men for my understanding of faith. I will always frustrate others who look to me
for a blueprint of what faith is. I can
only look to Christ and follow him as closely as I can. I can only follow in faith with the firm
realization that without Christ I have no true north. I cannot find who I am outside of him. “For in him we live and move and have our
being.”
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer
who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home
owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store."
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