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The
(ab)use of Faith
By
Jason Dulle “What makes faith so difficult is that it demands that
we relinquish all confidence in self, which includes our will, and rely solely
on God.” As the lyric popularized by George Michael in the 80s goes, “You gotta have faith.” Unfortunately, our idea of faith usually reduces God to a genie in a bottle instead of Creator and King of the universe. We’ve all fallen victim to the wrong definitions of faith in our Christian walk. ·
Some
conceptualize faith as a mental state to be reached before being able to tap
into God’s resources. ·
Others
view faith as an incorporeal substance that we must reach, turning the simple
child-like faith that Jesus spoke of into quantum physics.
·
Still
others see faith in purely intellectual terms, i.e., faith is only what
you believe. · Even more subversive is the concept that faith is a kind of wishful thinking—when faith is applied to our desires, we can attach the magical phrase “in Jesus’ name” to the end of our prayer, and God must answer us. The outcome of transforming faith into wishful thinking is denial. Some perceive that true faith is that which denies reality, because reality can be deceitful and from the devil. Thus, faith is often viewed as being in opposition to facts, logic, and reason and is superior to these “carnal things.” Such concepts of faith are diametrically opposed to scripture. The Biblical view of faith is one of trusting God to lead us in the direction He would have us to go; however, many have turned faith into God’s trusting them to lead Him. Faith is the means by which we receive all that God has secured for us; yet the nature of faith is one of the most misunderstood concepts of Christianity. The
Biblical Concept of Faith…
…is
a trust in God with corresponding works. We
do not tell God what we want and then believe hard enough to get it.
Faith is believing in God’s Word and His will.
Scripture tells us to “Trust in
the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all
thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy
paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) We
do not tell God which paths we want to walk, but by faith we trust Him to lead
us down the paths we need to go. Of
all the great heroes of faith, notice how many trusted in God’s ability to
perform what He said He would do. They
trusted and acted upon God’s Word. The biblical portrayal of faith is most
often a response to God, not an initiative of man. ·
Noah did
not build an ark by faith and then pray for a flood.
·
Moses did
not pray to deliver God’s people and then look for those people.
·
Abraham
did not leave the land of Ur and then believe that God would give him a land and
a seed. We
do not need some great faith to please God or to receive God's promises for us.
Faith’s essential nature is believing in the reality of that which is
unseen. Anybody who believes in the
existence of God, the devil, angels, demons, heaven, and hell is a person of
faith. Jesus said, “If
ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be
impossible unto you.” (Matthew
17:20) If we have faith in Jesus
Christ, we do have great faith. Faith is Not Denying Reality…
…it is understanding that God can change reality. Not
too long after my conversion, I remember the words of one particular brother who
objected to my comment that I had a bad cold.
His response was, “Brother, don’t confess sickness. By faith you are not sick, but healed in Jesus’ name!”
As a new Christian I thought this was a true person of faith and bought
into this type of faith myself for a few years (a faith which is highly
connected to the word-of-faith theology). The
fundamental problem with this kind of faith is that it is based on delusion, not
truth. There
are instances in the Bible where sickness was openly confessed, and at times
even cherished. For example, Paul
says, “Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (II Corinthians
12:10) If faith simply asserts the
opposite of reality, these passages can’t be explained. Someone
who has just been in a car accident and has had his leg smashed into pieces can
confess all day long that it is not broken, but the fact of the matter remains
that it is severely injured. Yes,
of course, God can do the impossible
and restore the leg, but this is faith in God’s ability to change
reality. Faith may confess God’s
ability to do whatever we hope for, but faith is not the denial of the reality
of our circumstances. Christians
are often told to ignore their circumstances and the way things appear to be.
The advice to “have faith in God” is valid in such cases when having
faith in God means trusting in Him to work things out for the good.
Having faith means that we do not get overwhelmed or discouraged because
of our circumstances¾God is bigger than our circumstances.
Faith is God-focused, understanding His sovereign ability to change our
circumstances. Faith
is Not Just Hoping…
…for something, but being convinced that something will come to pass because it has been promised by God or because He has declared His will to us on the matter in question. Scripture states that “Now faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) This verse is often cited to show that faith is believing in something without having any real evidence that what you're believing will come to pass, but this is a gross misinterpretation of the passage. The hope is not a wish, but an earnest expectation of an unrevealed reality. The only way we can have this confidence, however, is to have our hope based on the promises and Word of God. If we have not received assurance from Him in His written Word, or by His spoken Word, then our faith may only be our wishful thinking. The
faith of many Christians has been shipwrecked because they thought faith was
telling God what they wanted, and that if they prayed for it hard enough and
long enough, God would give them the desires of their heart. But God is not some
big slot machine in the sky that we can put in a quarter, pull the handle, and
out comes the jackpot. God is not
bound to personal hopes if they are not in accordance with His Word, will, and
purposes. We
should hope for things in faith, but we must also understand that if that hope
is not rooted in God's will, we may not receive the answer we are expecting. We are to pray that God's “…will
be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” (Matthew 6:10) and not in heaven as
it is on earth. That Faith is Not Contrary to Reason……evidence,
and facts is evidenced in every aspect of the Christian life. Even though one cannot reason to
a belief in God, he can find reasons for
it. Logically speaking, faith is
prior to reason. Yet reason is
prior to faith personally, for one
does not believe in God or His Word if he has no evidence that God exists.
Reason precedes faith as a method of knowing the existence of God and His
power. One cannot believe in a God in whom he/she has no knowledge.
A certain amount of knowledge of God and the gospel must be known if one is to have saving faith. I have never yet seen a person converted without first hearing the content of the gospel (evidence and fact). One may have knowledge without faith, but one cannot have faith without knowledge. God bestows faith simultaneously with our understanding. We do not have to crucify our intellect in order to believe. Faith may sometimes go beyond our ability to know something or understand it to the fullest extent, but faith is not illogical and does not deny reality. Some people never seem to have enough faith because they have turned faith into mental gymnastics wherein their will is imposed on God by their faith. Their lack of faith is not due to them not being spiritual enough, but because they have not yet given up the reigns of their life to God for Him to guide them and do what is best. What makes faith so difficult is that it demands that we relinquish all confidence in self, which includes our will, and rely solely on God. It demands that we quit trying to make things happen and trust God to make them happen in His way and in His time. This distorted concept of faith preaches so well because it reinforces the idea we all naturally desire—we can control every turn of our lives. Such a view, however, is not biblical and fosters all sorts of spiritual ills in the body of Christ. When we are weak, bewildered, battered, beaten, and yet we can still look to Jesus and somehow believe that all things will work together for the good, we have discovered the essence of true biblical faith True
faith in God does not result in our insistence that He execute our bidding, but
that we execute His, trusting in His Word and will, and acting accordingly.
Our faith toward God should mimic that of Jesus who openly confessed, “I can of mine own
self do nothing:…because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father
which hath sent me.” (John
5:30) ninetyandnine.com Article
© 2000, Jason Dulle ------- Jason Dulle is a graduate of Christian Life College and is currently working on his
Master of Arts in Exegetical Theology at Western Seminary. He is also a
co-contributor and writer for a web-site dedicated to the presentation and
advancement of Oneness Apostolic theology, www.onenesspentecostal.com.
When he is finished with all of his studies and paper-writing,
Jason’s main focus is trying to maintain consciousness.
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