Galations 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forebearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
There will come a time when, regardless of how much scripture you read, your status in your church, or how well versed you are in theology, that life comes down to your character. In those dark moments, and we all have them, when there is no easy or ‘right’ choice, it is who you are as a person that determines your path. It is for those times that our spirituality, our life in Christ, needs to prepare us. Thus, our faith must be built on the cornerstones of love, grace and compassion. In otherwords, our faith is about our relationship to God.
For me, this is the point of faith; to be that better person. That better person comes through living one’s faith. Often, I think we get side tracked into other pursuits. But we need to come back to the point of our faith, being restored.
There are those that hold that faith is a transaction. That by believing in Christ we are saved from an eternal torment for not believing in him. Thus, when we follow the encouragement of working out our salvation with fear and trembling, we are working out our avoidance of punishment. The entire pursuit of our faith leaves our lives in a perpetual state of self-centredness; that asks the question, “What’s in it for me?”
It is not that I don’t believe in salvation, for I do. I just don’t believe in eternal damnation. The salvation that is offered to me, is the salvation from myself and a world gone insane. This is why I am grateful that I am an addict and have mental health issues, it is clear that often left to my own devices, that life can be painfully chaotic. It is my life in Christ that allows me to live life differently. It is more than just no longer drinking, drugging, and being self-absorbed. My faith is learning to live beyond myself, making a tangible difference in the world.
I also believe that the salvation that is offered is from the insanity offered in numerous religions, including ours. I have said this before, I know I can not act good enough to earn the grace of God. Jesus himself offered the obvservation that teachers of the law, the religion of the time, burden people with heavy loads. Thus, I see the salvation is from the religious striving that often is just an end in itself of trying to prove that God loves me best.
There are two aspects of faith that I see leading to being that better man.
Matt 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The spiritual aspect of my life is intensely personal. Most people will know that I am a Christian. But most do not know what I believe, such is the nature of popular Christianity, that there are a large range of belief identified as Christian. For the most part, I don’t want the arguments that ensue. I see the same approach to faith in this verse, that our faith is mostly between God and I.
If I live my faith based on those seeing me, then those difficult moments come, my choices, my character is based on receiving that approval, not on being the creation I am called to be. It is the same idea as not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing.
The other aspects of faith is the challenges that we all go through.
James 1:2 – 4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
It is easy to be spiritual when all goes well. And those moments I wrote of at the beginning of this entry, those dark moments, never come when everything is good. It is when life is hard that character is built.
