"If something is true you need not have belief. If someone asked you, "Do you believe in electricity?" You would say, "What kind of question is that? Electricity is real." If God is real then I should experience Him, He should change my life, He should make me more compassionate, loving, understanding & forgiving; all the things Jesus does speak about." -Deepak Chopra
The worst translated words in all of scripture into English are the words believe & faith. The word believe in most people's minds pictures "mental acceptance mixed with uncertainty or the possibility of being wrong." Faith is an ambiguous word defined by religions & even defined as religion. Believe in the Greek is the verb form of the noun faith. Both of these words simply mean "trust." Trust is a relational word that does not stop at the idea of believing. Trust is something you put in someone else. Trust is not merely an idea in your head that you are confident about. So to believe in God or to have faith in Him actually means to trust Him, to consider Him trustworthy & loving enough to then put your security in Him. This requires an encounter with God.
You cannot be saved by putting your eggs into the basket of Pascal's Wager which basically says, "believe in God because if He is real & you don't believe in Him you'll be screwed when you die." That is all mental & it has nothing to do with encountering a being. You cannot be saved by considering the so called "essential doctrines" to be true. You cannot be a practicing Christian because Christianity is not something you practice, it is a person you know & live with.
Jesus Himself defined "eternal life" in John 17:3 as "knowing God the Father & His Son that has been sent." That is one of the least quoted verses of all time because once we see eternal life & Christianity as being a real relationship rather than a post-death destination religion loses all of its power. Performing religious practices & holding certain beliefs cannot introduce you to God. The Holy Spirit cannot be purchased with a sinner's prayer or church membership! The concept of becoming a Christian has been squashed into a marketable, "repeat after me" or "believe this list of things" package that has nothing to do with meeting God. No one was ever led into a prayer to be saved in scripture. Religion has hijacked the concept of God & said, "If you want to get to God you have to come through me first!" Jesus, the Savior of mankind, is alive & real. Jesus said "I AM THE WAY." Christianity is not the way, holding beliefs is not the way, our morality & actions are not the way.
Religion is fake & founded by the Snake. God is the real deal. His love is a tailor fit. He's so holy He healed someone with His spit. As Paul said compared to Him religion, even perfectly practiced is... well you know the rest!
Related Posts
Faith: Trust in God
Showing posts with label trustworthy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trustworthy. Show all posts
Friday, January 4, 2013
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Plates of Faith
Most think God is like a waiter at a restaurant. You give Him your order and He brings you what you want. When God doesn't answer you try to pay, bribe, charm, and beg God to give you what you ordered.
Reality in Christ is more like a buffet. Everything is provided & God has already paid for you, you just have to get up and take from what is there. God's not taking orders because He already has everything ready & out. Your plates are made of faith. Faith is not the currency you use to pay God to deliver your orders. Faith is what you use to take what is already there. God's grace is all you can eat and more abundant than you could ever handle.
Reality in Christ is more like a buffet. Everything is provided & God has already paid for you, you just have to get up and take from what is there. God's not taking orders because He already has everything ready & out. Your plates are made of faith. Faith is not the currency you use to pay God to deliver your orders. Faith is what you use to take what is already there. God's grace is all you can eat and more abundant than you could ever handle.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
He Loves You For You
God wants us to love and trust Him for our benefit not out of His need. He enjoys it when we love and trust Him because He enjoys the relationship, He enjoys the affection. He knows that loving and trusting Him is what is best for us.
Many don't think of God as a loving Father. They see Him like an angry boss. They work for Him and are in constant fear of Him firing them (breaking fellowship) if they don't do exactly what He says (obey the written commands and extracted principles in the bible). They think that if they work hard enough and do a good enough job then God will finally acknowledge them, grace them with His presence, and then hand out a few bonuses (blessings) before telling them to get back to work.
A Father and his children can work together but ideally that is not the basis of their relationship. With God everything is ideal. I pray that all of us will see that more and more as our lives go on. The basis of our relationship with God is love not work, duty, obligation, or responsibility. We think God wants us to love and trust Him "this much" but we feel like we only love and trust Him "so little." God is not measuring you. He simply longs for authentic relationship. You simply cannot be commanded and obligated to love when you have never known love.
When we work with Father we see that His work is all about loving others. Love relationships will have their difficulties but what more joyful thing in this world is there than love? That is all God desires for us to do! God knows we love best when we have understood what it is to be loved by Him. When we try to force ourselves to love out of an obedience to a command rather than out of a heart that has been loved by God we will shame ourselves and push others away. They will know that our "love" isn't focused on who they are and what they need but on our own fear, commitment, and perceived obligation to obey a command to keep God pleased with us.
It is impossible to love selflessly when you think you have a God whose love for you is conditional. When you think God's love is conditional you will try to obey His commands to love for the purpose of trying to meet His condition so you can get His love. You will try to perform for God out of fear of losing His favor and that performance isn't out of love for God or for others.
God's love is not conditional but it is often not obvious to us. We will see it more and more as we grow to understand that God is the source of all good and we need do nothing more than to ask Him how He is loving us today.
Instead of thinking "I need to trust God more," trust Him to grow your trust in Him. Ask Him to make you aware of His trustworthiness, to show you why it is best for you to trust Him. God is certainly not offended by such requests. He will not hand you a snake when you ask for fish (Matthew 7:7-12).
God is our Father. Fathers give affection, protection, & instruction. God is the perfect Father who is love. He is the most loving and trustworthy being that exists. He is looking out for our best interests, He is looking to benefit us. What God knows benefits us the most isn't always what we think are our best interests, it doesn't always line up with our ambitions, desires, plans, or goals. God's love surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). If we trust Him and His love for us we will have the most satisfying journey we could possibly have in this life.
Many don't think of God as a loving Father. They see Him like an angry boss. They work for Him and are in constant fear of Him firing them (breaking fellowship) if they don't do exactly what He says (obey the written commands and extracted principles in the bible). They think that if they work hard enough and do a good enough job then God will finally acknowledge them, grace them with His presence, and then hand out a few bonuses (blessings) before telling them to get back to work.
A Father and his children can work together but ideally that is not the basis of their relationship. With God everything is ideal. I pray that all of us will see that more and more as our lives go on. The basis of our relationship with God is love not work, duty, obligation, or responsibility. We think God wants us to love and trust Him "this much" but we feel like we only love and trust Him "so little." God is not measuring you. He simply longs for authentic relationship. You simply cannot be commanded and obligated to love when you have never known love.
When we work with Father we see that His work is all about loving others. Love relationships will have their difficulties but what more joyful thing in this world is there than love? That is all God desires for us to do! God knows we love best when we have understood what it is to be loved by Him. When we try to force ourselves to love out of an obedience to a command rather than out of a heart that has been loved by God we will shame ourselves and push others away. They will know that our "love" isn't focused on who they are and what they need but on our own fear, commitment, and perceived obligation to obey a command to keep God pleased with us.
It is impossible to love selflessly when you think you have a God whose love for you is conditional. When you think God's love is conditional you will try to obey His commands to love for the purpose of trying to meet His condition so you can get His love. You will try to perform for God out of fear of losing His favor and that performance isn't out of love for God or for others.
God's love is not conditional but it is often not obvious to us. We will see it more and more as we grow to understand that God is the source of all good and we need do nothing more than to ask Him how He is loving us today.
Instead of thinking "I need to trust God more," trust Him to grow your trust in Him. Ask Him to make you aware of His trustworthiness, to show you why it is best for you to trust Him. God is certainly not offended by such requests. He will not hand you a snake when you ask for fish (Matthew 7:7-12).
God is our Father. Fathers give affection, protection, & instruction. God is the perfect Father who is love. He is the most loving and trustworthy being that exists. He is looking out for our best interests, He is looking to benefit us. What God knows benefits us the most isn't always what we think are our best interests, it doesn't always line up with our ambitions, desires, plans, or goals. God's love surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). If we trust Him and His love for us we will have the most satisfying journey we could possibly have in this life.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
How God Prepared Me for My Dad's Death
My dad died unexpectedly on August 15. That day he died I was listening to podcasts that had these words below. God was giving me understanding and comfort just before the tragedy had become known.
Notes from Podcasts
Notes I Wrote
Notes from Podcasts
- Our trust is not in the outcome of our circumstances. It is in Christ Jesus and we know that His grace is sufficient for whatever life might hurl at us.
- True trust is not trusting in an outcome or an answer. It is trusting that God is good, God is loving, God is with me, and if I need to know something He will let me know.
- When you go through pain just cling to God.
- You can only grow in love when you grow in knowing that you are loved by God.
- The most important question is "How much do you know that God loves you?"
- We don't have to understand why things happen. We just have to know that it happened and God is there in the midst of it sharing and showing His love.
- There is a loving God who stands above everything that happens in this life. Whether we can understand or not understand why things happen the one thing we can know is that God is in the midst of it. Where is God in the midst of tragedy? He is there to comfort, to sustain people, to meet their need right where they are.
Here is a link to the "Grace in Suffering" Podcast
Notes I Wrote
- I don't doubt that I know God as my father anymore than I doubt I know my biological father.
- Drawing near to God means we experience His love and thus we become more loving to others which ultimately fulfills the law anyway.
- I was never successful at loving until I realized I was loved. I was never successful at trusting until I stopped trying. I was never successful at doing until I started being. I was never successful at living until I let Life live for me.
- I feel more perfect because of His righteousness given to me, more significant because of His power to work through me. I do feel less capable and less confident in myself because I know those are His qualities and not mine. I don't feel more miserable as a Christian because I don't measure up because I know God threw away the measuring stick to give me a hug.
- Trust is putting your security in God. Saying "I'm going to do what you want God and I know it will be good for me"
- People don't always need answers. Sometimes they just need love, compassion, and comfort. You can show people that God cares by showing them that you care.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Faith: Trust in God
Faith and Trust Best Defined
The word "believe" when used in the bible is best defined as "trust" or "to trust." The word "faith" is best defined as "trust." These words we take as mysterious spiritual words are in fact, for the most part, simple relational words.
Faith, Belief, or Trust biblically speaking in regards to God is
Trusting the person of God in a relationship the same way we would trust a friend or family member
Being convinced that God is trustworthy, worthy of trust
Entrusting yourself to God, putting your security in God
Trusting that what God has said is true, taking God at His word
Knowing that God loves us and loves giving to us
Trust and Grace
Grace is what God has for us. Trust (faith) is what we have for God.
Trust is measurable (faith of a mustard seed, you of little faith..). It is measured by the quality of relationship. The better a relationship the more trust there is. God is the most trustworthy being that exists. When scriptures say that God is faithful that word faithful can also be translated as trustworthy. God is worthy of our trust. Our recognition of His trustworthiness is more important than our recognition of His praiseworthiness. It is by God's grace that we are saved through trust.
Although trust is measurable we shouldn't think of it simply as something we wield or use nor should we think of grace as something that God simply wields. They are both things that can be given but more so than that they are defined relationally. Grace is a favorable disposition that God has for you. It is His loving kindness towards you. Trust is the confidence you have for Christ and the security you feel you have in Christ. The more you doubt Him the less you trust Him. The more insecure you feel the less you trust Him.
In the Greek a root word for Grace means "I am happy." When you receive grace from God by trusting in His Son Jesus that means God is happy with you. Through trust and grace we are made righteous which means "right with God." We are right with God from the moment we first trust Jesus and forevermore after that. Being right with God means He is always happy with us.
Is Faith Blind?
Trusting that God exists is as simple as trusting that someone we've talked to only over the phone exists. Trust/Faith is not blind. It's object is just not available to view at the present time. We cannot see God but our trust causes us to act confidently as if we can. We cannot see the future but our trust in God's promises causes us to act as if we have seen the future.
Further and obvious evidence that faith is not blind is that Jesus' disciples walked with Him as a man and still trusted Him. In 1 John 1:1 John speaking of Jesus said, "We have heard, we have seen with our eyes, We have looked at and our hands have touched Him." Jesus often told people who could see Him to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to have faith in Him. While God the Father is still invisible Jesus said in John 14:9 "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We live by trusting not by seeing." It does not say we cannot see but that we don't rely on our sight. We rely on, we trust, God. Faith is trusting God as a being and trusting what He says.
Is Faith Fact Based?
Believing is almost universally thought to be an unsure "maybe." Such as "I believe it may rain today." Saying, "I believe so" leaves the idea of "I think so, I'm not sure, I could easily be proven wrong." One mainstream definition of belief found on wiktionary.org is "mental acceptance of a claim as truth regardless of supporting evidence."
Faith/Trust is an utter confidence in some one's or some thing's trustworthiness. Trust that there is such a place as London leads us to act as if this were so even if we've never seen London. Trust is very much based in facts.
In some sense it doesn't matter if I get facts wrong. It does matter who I trust. If you as my friend have some wrong information about me that doesn't mean I will disown you. Neither will Jesus disown those who trust Him if they are wrong concerning facts about Him. God values our relationship with Him more than us knowing a checklist of facts about Him. Of course it is better to know the truth (facts) about the Truth (Jesus) but we must remember that the Holy Spirit promises to lead God's children to all truth as long as they are willing to follow.
Believe Falls Short of Biblical
Personally I think the word believe has no place in the bible as it falls miserably short to capture the meaning of the underlying Greek word. Believing is usually thought of as impersonal, distant, and unsure. Trusting is personal and confident. My discovery that "faith" means "trust" and "to believe" means "to trust" has greatly improved my relationship with God and my understanding of His scriptures. It reveals that God wants us to draw close to Him and not for us to learn facts about Him from a distance. God is our Father not a book of guesses. Relationship is the purpose of faith. It is truth in relation to God not true statements alone.
Words are nothing to fight about but having weak or incorrect words causes our perceptions to be shaped and thus affects how we live our lives day to day. If the word tolerance had been used instead of the word love in the bible our perception of God towards us would be greatly changed. I would think that God just puts up with me, doesn't care for me, and has little to no kindness towards me.
I have already shown how the word believe differs from trust. The word faith is unclear and has been given improper definitions by many. It gives us little to no idea of the relational intent that the word trust expresses. The prevalent idea is that believing or having faith is something I muster up on my own. Trust is something I put in someone else. God's trustworthiness is in focus rather than me and my effort.
Trusting God is the Will of God
Jesus said in John 10:10, "I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Jesus said in John 6:47 "Truly, truly I say to you, He who trusts in me has eternal life." Jesus said in John 6:40, "This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and trusts in Him will have eternal life."
I encourage you to read that last paragraph again, as there is tremendous truth there. Now what then can we say is God's will for you and I? God's will for us is to trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God. God's will for your life is to love you as much as you will let Him. You let Him love you by trusting Him.
Remembering that Jesus is life (John 14:6, Colossians 3:4, 1 John 1:2) let's look at the scriptures from above with a more personal wording. Jesus said in John 10:10, "I have come so that you may have me, and lots of me." Jesus said in John 6:47 "If you trust me you have me forever." Jesus said in John 6:40, "This is the will of My Father, that you trust me and have me forever."
Finisher and Beginner
"Let us focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith/trust" (Hebrews 12:2)
God is the originator and the one who will complete our trust in Him. He is the one who matures it. The one who tops it all off and makes it all that it is supposed to be.
Our trust in God is won by Him over time in relationship with us. As He goes with us through our circumstances He proves Himself to be interactively trustworthy in those circumstances.
God may prove His trustworthiness by giving you unexpected provision when you face financial trouble. He may prove His trustworthiness by giving you miraculous protection during an accident. He may prove His trustworthiness by comforting you in your heartache. He may prove His trustworthiness by laying a promise on your heart that He later fulfills. He may prove His trustworthiness by healing you or answering your prayers. He may prove His trustworthiness by revealing truth to you at a time which you would understand and accept it that you know you couldn't have handled in the past.
God has done every single one of these things for me. May we not take God's trustworthiness to love us for granted! What aspect of God's trustworthiness should be most prevalent to us? That He is trustworthy to love you!
Faith/trust grows by learning more about who God is, getting to know Him, and growing in our relationship with Him. The more truth we learn about God and the more we get to know God the more trustworthy and loving we will find Him to be thus our trust (faith) in him will increase.
Philippians 1:6 says, "He who began a good work in you is faithful/trustworthy to complete it." Most people interpret the Christian life as "Ok God saved me and now I've begun a good work in myself and I'm going to try as best as I can to be faithful to complete this so that God will finally accept me someday in heaven." That mindset also says, "I'm trying to do this great work for God, and achieve holiness, and stand strong and firm in doing all the right things." The truth is that it is God who began a good work in us. It is God who is trustworthy to complete it. We're His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). Our job is to trust God enough to simply rest in the work that He is doing in and through us.
Faith and Works
Works are a showing that you have trust in God. You can work without trust but you can't trust without it leading to works. These works are as simple as loving people God puts in your life or following God's leading into the unknown.
The life I live in the body, I live by trust in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
We don't live our lives by trying to be good. We live our lives by trust in Jesus Christ; relational trust, putting our security in God, and trusting what He tells us is true to the point of being willing to act it out. Just as I trust my legs to be capable of allowing me to walk in everyday life I must trust Jesus Christ to be capable of allowing me to walk in love so that I may benefit God and others.
Faith is not based on commands. It is based on living your life day by day and doing the things you find to do as a result of trusting in God. To live by trust is not a matter of living by rules. It is a matter of living your life everyday trusting in God, knowing that He is good to you, and knowing that the things you do as a result of your trust are simply walking in a trustful relationship with God.
The more you trust the Father the freer you will live the way He wants you to live in the world. The reason we don't live the way He wants us to live in the world is because we ultimately don't trust Him and therefore feel like we have to do it all ourselves or we have to do things to earn His grace or earn His love.
Christian transformation comes not because we conform our lives to God's supposed standards and find out the rules and follow them devotedly. It comes by my growing relationship with God, and my growing affection for Him, and my growing trust in Him. He displaces the things in which sin takes its hold on my life.
God wants our relationship with Him to be based on growing trust and friendship. God doesn't base our relationship with Him on how much we obey Him or how many good things we do vs. how many bad things we do. The relationship God wants to have with us is the same kind we want to have with others, one of love and acceptance. Jesus doesn't want our relationship with Him to be burdensome but brotherly.
The Christian life is Christ's life, His works in and through us, His blessings, His ability, His direction, it is about His works not our works. If we could get that into, not simply our minds but our mindsets that our response to God is to simply rest and to trust Him then we will begin to see true fruit, true works that are really of God and not of ourselves.
Trusting God is the Work God Wants from Us
They said, "We want to perform God's works, too. What should we do?" Jesus told them, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29)
What is the work of God? To trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
How can we do the works of God? Trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
How do we do the works of God? Trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
The very work of God is trusting in Jesus! Once again because this is important, Jesus said in John 6:29, "This is the work of God: to trust in Jesus Christ whom God has sent." If we work for God without trusting in Christ we don't do the work of God.
In Philippians 2 there is the well known scripture that says to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." The Greek word for trembling is defined as: "used to describe the anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements, but devotedly does his utmost to fulfill his duty."
Philippians 2:12-13 (with trembling substituted for its definition):
"Work out your own salvation with reverence and an anxiety that distrusts your own ability to completely meet all the requirements; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure and purpose."
We most certainly must distrust our own ability to meet all requirements, and, as we saw earlier, our "duty" is to trust the God who is at work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. We are indeed His workmanship and "in deed" His workmanship.
Faith without works is dead (James 2:17) but remember Jesus said that the work is trusting in Him. The works James talks about then are actions produced by trust and performed with trust. They are God bred, God lead, and God fed. Without love (God) we are nothing. Without trust we act as if God is nothing, we don't know Him, and we can do it all on our own.
Faith as Currency
Often we put our trust in the amount of faith we think we have instead of putting our trust in Jesus Christ. We look at faith as a currency. "Alright God I've paid you with faith now you owe me." But faith is trust in God and His work. Faith is not a bribe we slip to God through prayer to get Him to serve us. Faith says, "Lord I trust you know what is best for me and when it is best for me and I will receive what you give with thankfulness."
You see faith as currency instead of trust if you're keeping God's rules because you think God is a bean counter and it takes so many good acts to get a particular blessing or if you think God is somehow obligated to bless you because you behaved and obeyed His rules. Step back and say, "Lord, I trust your decisions for me better than I trust my own. It is so much more beneficial on every level when I get something that you've given to me in your time frame, under your terms."
Trusting the Wrong Things
The opposite of biblical faith is trusting in something to the exclusion of God. Trust is only as good as what it is placed in. If you have faith in yourself in place of trusting God or even have faith in faith itself, your faith is in vain. Those who thought they could keep the law trusted in themselves rather than God.
We are not to count on our own good behavior. We are not to put faith in our amount of faith. Trust God to fulfill what it is that He wants to do instead of feeling like you've got to take on that responsibility by yourself. Base your faith on what Jesus did not on what you do.
We don't need to get our facts/truth straight we need to get our faith/trust straight. God will get us to the facts in His wise timing if we go to Him in trust. It is to your detriment to make trusting in God into trusting in your own faith. Faith is trust that Jesus Christ is trustworthy. The more we humble ourselves and seek to know Him the more we will trust Him.
Entrusting Yourself to God
It is not enough to have knowledge of God's love. It is better to also have security in His love. That security comes by trusting Him (faith) because trust (faith) is placing your security in God, entrusting yourself to Him. Trust is deferring your security to someone else.
When scripture says "love believes all things" we know that "believes" means "trusts." We can rightly say that "love entrusts all things (to God)." Remembering that God is love, this is evident in the Father entrusting everything to Jesus and Jesus entrusting everything to the Father. In the same way we show God that we love Him by entrusting everything to Him. This entrusting is sometimes called submission. Where you trust Christ you have life in His name. Where you don't trust Him then you get the anxiety of life, fears, and doubts.
Jesus said in John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled trust in God, and trust also in me." Jesus' cure for a troubled heart is trust in God and Himself. Just as when we were children we trusted our parents to take care of us and comfort us when we were troubled or afraid so we should trust God enough to go to Him when we are troubled because we realize that with Him is the safest place to be.
Choosing to Trust
One definition of faith I've heard is "the will to trust, the decision to follow the best light you have about God and not quit. Trust is a decision of the will won by the trustworthiness of its object."
Trust is still a choice. Logically trusting God is an easy choice but trust doesn't come just by knowledge of propositions, it comes by observation and experience. We humans are quick to doubt and slow to trust. This is for a good reason as there are many falsehoods and untrustworthy people in this world. God takes the wisest relational step of proving Himself trustworthy to us. If our trust is based only on propositions with no observation or experience then when difficulty comes we will trust God very little and likely not at all.
Trust is a natural byproduct of relationship that leads to a willful choice. Trust is the expression of the maturity of a relationship. Trust is not something you can demand from someone. You trust someone to the degree that you perceive them to be trustworthy. Sometimes we trust people who deceive us or claim authority over us and that trust is misplaced. Other times we refuse to trust someone who is trustworthy, or even God who is fully trustworthy. We do this because we don't perceive them correctly because we do not know them well enough. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know that you are loved. God empowers our decision to trust by revealing His love for us. Doubt is conquered by Jesus as He captures your heart!
The word "believe" when used in the bible is best defined as "trust" or "to trust." The word "faith" is best defined as "trust." These words we take as mysterious spiritual words are in fact, for the most part, simple relational words.
Faith, Belief, or Trust biblically speaking in regards to God is
Trusting the person of God in a relationship the same way we would trust a friend or family member
Being convinced that God is trustworthy, worthy of trust
Entrusting yourself to God, putting your security in God
Trusting that what God has said is true, taking God at His word
Knowing that God loves us and loves giving to us
Trust and Grace
Grace is what God has for us. Trust (faith) is what we have for God.
Trust is measurable (faith of a mustard seed, you of little faith..). It is measured by the quality of relationship. The better a relationship the more trust there is. God is the most trustworthy being that exists. When scriptures say that God is faithful that word faithful can also be translated as trustworthy. God is worthy of our trust. Our recognition of His trustworthiness is more important than our recognition of His praiseworthiness. It is by God's grace that we are saved through trust.
Although trust is measurable we shouldn't think of it simply as something we wield or use nor should we think of grace as something that God simply wields. They are both things that can be given but more so than that they are defined relationally. Grace is a favorable disposition that God has for you. It is His loving kindness towards you. Trust is the confidence you have for Christ and the security you feel you have in Christ. The more you doubt Him the less you trust Him. The more insecure you feel the less you trust Him.
In the Greek a root word for Grace means "I am happy." When you receive grace from God by trusting in His Son Jesus that means God is happy with you. Through trust and grace we are made righteous which means "right with God." We are right with God from the moment we first trust Jesus and forevermore after that. Being right with God means He is always happy with us.
Is Faith Blind?
Trusting that God exists is as simple as trusting that someone we've talked to only over the phone exists. Trust/Faith is not blind. It's object is just not available to view at the present time. We cannot see God but our trust causes us to act confidently as if we can. We cannot see the future but our trust in God's promises causes us to act as if we have seen the future.
Further and obvious evidence that faith is not blind is that Jesus' disciples walked with Him as a man and still trusted Him. In 1 John 1:1 John speaking of Jesus said, "We have heard, we have seen with our eyes, We have looked at and our hands have touched Him." Jesus often told people who could see Him to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to have faith in Him. While God the Father is still invisible Jesus said in John 14:9 "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We live by trusting not by seeing." It does not say we cannot see but that we don't rely on our sight. We rely on, we trust, God. Faith is trusting God as a being and trusting what He says.
Is Faith Fact Based?
Believing is almost universally thought to be an unsure "maybe." Such as "I believe it may rain today." Saying, "I believe so" leaves the idea of "I think so, I'm not sure, I could easily be proven wrong." One mainstream definition of belief found on wiktionary.org is "mental acceptance of a claim as truth regardless of supporting evidence."
Faith/Trust is an utter confidence in some one's or some thing's trustworthiness. Trust that there is such a place as London leads us to act as if this were so even if we've never seen London. Trust is very much based in facts.
In some sense it doesn't matter if I get facts wrong. It does matter who I trust. If you as my friend have some wrong information about me that doesn't mean I will disown you. Neither will Jesus disown those who trust Him if they are wrong concerning facts about Him. God values our relationship with Him more than us knowing a checklist of facts about Him. Of course it is better to know the truth (facts) about the Truth (Jesus) but we must remember that the Holy Spirit promises to lead God's children to all truth as long as they are willing to follow.
Believe Falls Short of Biblical
Personally I think the word believe has no place in the bible as it falls miserably short to capture the meaning of the underlying Greek word. Believing is usually thought of as impersonal, distant, and unsure. Trusting is personal and confident. My discovery that "faith" means "trust" and "to believe" means "to trust" has greatly improved my relationship with God and my understanding of His scriptures. It reveals that God wants us to draw close to Him and not for us to learn facts about Him from a distance. God is our Father not a book of guesses. Relationship is the purpose of faith. It is truth in relation to God not true statements alone.
Words are nothing to fight about but having weak or incorrect words causes our perceptions to be shaped and thus affects how we live our lives day to day. If the word tolerance had been used instead of the word love in the bible our perception of God towards us would be greatly changed. I would think that God just puts up with me, doesn't care for me, and has little to no kindness towards me.
I have already shown how the word believe differs from trust. The word faith is unclear and has been given improper definitions by many. It gives us little to no idea of the relational intent that the word trust expresses. The prevalent idea is that believing or having faith is something I muster up on my own. Trust is something I put in someone else. God's trustworthiness is in focus rather than me and my effort.
Trusting God is the Will of God
Jesus said in John 10:10, "I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Jesus said in John 6:47 "Truly, truly I say to you, He who trusts in me has eternal life." Jesus said in John 6:40, "This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and trusts in Him will have eternal life."
I encourage you to read that last paragraph again, as there is tremendous truth there. Now what then can we say is God's will for you and I? God's will for us is to trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God. God's will for your life is to love you as much as you will let Him. You let Him love you by trusting Him.
Remembering that Jesus is life (John 14:6, Colossians 3:4, 1 John 1:2) let's look at the scriptures from above with a more personal wording. Jesus said in John 10:10, "I have come so that you may have me, and lots of me." Jesus said in John 6:47 "If you trust me you have me forever." Jesus said in John 6:40, "This is the will of My Father, that you trust me and have me forever."
Finisher and Beginner
"Let us focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith/trust" (Hebrews 12:2)
God is the originator and the one who will complete our trust in Him. He is the one who matures it. The one who tops it all off and makes it all that it is supposed to be.
Our trust in God is won by Him over time in relationship with us. As He goes with us through our circumstances He proves Himself to be interactively trustworthy in those circumstances.
God may prove His trustworthiness by giving you unexpected provision when you face financial trouble. He may prove His trustworthiness by giving you miraculous protection during an accident. He may prove His trustworthiness by comforting you in your heartache. He may prove His trustworthiness by laying a promise on your heart that He later fulfills. He may prove His trustworthiness by healing you or answering your prayers. He may prove His trustworthiness by revealing truth to you at a time which you would understand and accept it that you know you couldn't have handled in the past.
God has done every single one of these things for me. May we not take God's trustworthiness to love us for granted! What aspect of God's trustworthiness should be most prevalent to us? That He is trustworthy to love you!
Faith/trust grows by learning more about who God is, getting to know Him, and growing in our relationship with Him. The more truth we learn about God and the more we get to know God the more trustworthy and loving we will find Him to be thus our trust (faith) in him will increase.
Philippians 1:6 says, "He who began a good work in you is faithful/trustworthy to complete it." Most people interpret the Christian life as "Ok God saved me and now I've begun a good work in myself and I'm going to try as best as I can to be faithful to complete this so that God will finally accept me someday in heaven." That mindset also says, "I'm trying to do this great work for God, and achieve holiness, and stand strong and firm in doing all the right things." The truth is that it is God who began a good work in us. It is God who is trustworthy to complete it. We're His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). Our job is to trust God enough to simply rest in the work that He is doing in and through us.
Faith and Works
Works are a showing that you have trust in God. You can work without trust but you can't trust without it leading to works. These works are as simple as loving people God puts in your life or following God's leading into the unknown.
The life I live in the body, I live by trust in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
We don't live our lives by trying to be good. We live our lives by trust in Jesus Christ; relational trust, putting our security in God, and trusting what He tells us is true to the point of being willing to act it out. Just as I trust my legs to be capable of allowing me to walk in everyday life I must trust Jesus Christ to be capable of allowing me to walk in love so that I may benefit God and others.
Faith is not based on commands. It is based on living your life day by day and doing the things you find to do as a result of trusting in God. To live by trust is not a matter of living by rules. It is a matter of living your life everyday trusting in God, knowing that He is good to you, and knowing that the things you do as a result of your trust are simply walking in a trustful relationship with God.
The more you trust the Father the freer you will live the way He wants you to live in the world. The reason we don't live the way He wants us to live in the world is because we ultimately don't trust Him and therefore feel like we have to do it all ourselves or we have to do things to earn His grace or earn His love.
Christian transformation comes not because we conform our lives to God's supposed standards and find out the rules and follow them devotedly. It comes by my growing relationship with God, and my growing affection for Him, and my growing trust in Him. He displaces the things in which sin takes its hold on my life.
God wants our relationship with Him to be based on growing trust and friendship. God doesn't base our relationship with Him on how much we obey Him or how many good things we do vs. how many bad things we do. The relationship God wants to have with us is the same kind we want to have with others, one of love and acceptance. Jesus doesn't want our relationship with Him to be burdensome but brotherly.
The Christian life is Christ's life, His works in and through us, His blessings, His ability, His direction, it is about His works not our works. If we could get that into, not simply our minds but our mindsets that our response to God is to simply rest and to trust Him then we will begin to see true fruit, true works that are really of God and not of ourselves.
Trusting God is the Work God Wants from Us
They said, "We want to perform God's works, too. What should we do?" Jesus told them, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29)
What is the work of God? To trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
How can we do the works of God? Trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
How do we do the works of God? Trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
The very work of God is trusting in Jesus! Once again because this is important, Jesus said in John 6:29, "This is the work of God: to trust in Jesus Christ whom God has sent." If we work for God without trusting in Christ we don't do the work of God.
In Philippians 2 there is the well known scripture that says to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." The Greek word for trembling is defined as: "used to describe the anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements, but devotedly does his utmost to fulfill his duty."
Philippians 2:12-13 (with trembling substituted for its definition):
"Work out your own salvation with reverence and an anxiety that distrusts your own ability to completely meet all the requirements; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure and purpose."
We most certainly must distrust our own ability to meet all requirements, and, as we saw earlier, our "duty" is to trust the God who is at work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. We are indeed His workmanship and "in deed" His workmanship.
Faith without works is dead (James 2:17) but remember Jesus said that the work is trusting in Him. The works James talks about then are actions produced by trust and performed with trust. They are God bred, God lead, and God fed. Without love (God) we are nothing. Without trust we act as if God is nothing, we don't know Him, and we can do it all on our own.
Faith as Currency
Often we put our trust in the amount of faith we think we have instead of putting our trust in Jesus Christ. We look at faith as a currency. "Alright God I've paid you with faith now you owe me." But faith is trust in God and His work. Faith is not a bribe we slip to God through prayer to get Him to serve us. Faith says, "Lord I trust you know what is best for me and when it is best for me and I will receive what you give with thankfulness."
You see faith as currency instead of trust if you're keeping God's rules because you think God is a bean counter and it takes so many good acts to get a particular blessing or if you think God is somehow obligated to bless you because you behaved and obeyed His rules. Step back and say, "Lord, I trust your decisions for me better than I trust my own. It is so much more beneficial on every level when I get something that you've given to me in your time frame, under your terms."
Trusting the Wrong Things
The opposite of biblical faith is trusting in something to the exclusion of God. Trust is only as good as what it is placed in. If you have faith in yourself in place of trusting God or even have faith in faith itself, your faith is in vain. Those who thought they could keep the law trusted in themselves rather than God.
We are not to count on our own good behavior. We are not to put faith in our amount of faith. Trust God to fulfill what it is that He wants to do instead of feeling like you've got to take on that responsibility by yourself. Base your faith on what Jesus did not on what you do.
We don't need to get our facts/truth straight we need to get our faith/trust straight. God will get us to the facts in His wise timing if we go to Him in trust. It is to your detriment to make trusting in God into trusting in your own faith. Faith is trust that Jesus Christ is trustworthy. The more we humble ourselves and seek to know Him the more we will trust Him.
Entrusting Yourself to God
It is not enough to have knowledge of God's love. It is better to also have security in His love. That security comes by trusting Him (faith) because trust (faith) is placing your security in God, entrusting yourself to Him. Trust is deferring your security to someone else.
When scripture says "love believes all things" we know that "believes" means "trusts." We can rightly say that "love entrusts all things (to God)." Remembering that God is love, this is evident in the Father entrusting everything to Jesus and Jesus entrusting everything to the Father. In the same way we show God that we love Him by entrusting everything to Him. This entrusting is sometimes called submission. Where you trust Christ you have life in His name. Where you don't trust Him then you get the anxiety of life, fears, and doubts.
Jesus said in John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled trust in God, and trust also in me." Jesus' cure for a troubled heart is trust in God and Himself. Just as when we were children we trusted our parents to take care of us and comfort us when we were troubled or afraid so we should trust God enough to go to Him when we are troubled because we realize that with Him is the safest place to be.
Choosing to Trust
One definition of faith I've heard is "the will to trust, the decision to follow the best light you have about God and not quit. Trust is a decision of the will won by the trustworthiness of its object."
Trust is still a choice. Logically trusting God is an easy choice but trust doesn't come just by knowledge of propositions, it comes by observation and experience. We humans are quick to doubt and slow to trust. This is for a good reason as there are many falsehoods and untrustworthy people in this world. God takes the wisest relational step of proving Himself trustworthy to us. If our trust is based only on propositions with no observation or experience then when difficulty comes we will trust God very little and likely not at all.
Trust is a natural byproduct of relationship that leads to a willful choice. Trust is the expression of the maturity of a relationship. Trust is not something you can demand from someone. You trust someone to the degree that you perceive them to be trustworthy. Sometimes we trust people who deceive us or claim authority over us and that trust is misplaced. Other times we refuse to trust someone who is trustworthy, or even God who is fully trustworthy. We do this because we don't perceive them correctly because we do not know them well enough. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know that you are loved. God empowers our decision to trust by revealing His love for us. Doubt is conquered by Jesus as He captures your heart!
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. (1 John 4:16)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
From the Heart to the Mind
We often think that we need to take what is in our head and put it into our heart. It is much easier to let the heart convince the head than to get the head to convince the heart.
Think of falling in love. Your heart's desire to be with the other person will cause your mind to think of anything you can do to be with them. Now imagine you have no heart's desire for a person but you logically see how they would be good to marry. You have to put a whole lot more effort in convincing yourself to be with them. If someone came along who captured your heart you would be much more inclined to pursue them rather than the person who is the "logical" choice.
Love and Trust Speak Heart Language.
Love and trust speak heart language. We are saved through trust for Jesus in our hearts not facts about Him in our heads.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one trusts and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who trusts in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:9-13)
Those who are perishing found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
Set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts (1 Peter 3:15)
God Captures Our Hearts!
God captures our hearts! We cannot know God by simply considering certain facts about Him to be true in our minds. I can know things about my uncle but that does not mean I've met him. If I have never encountered him I cannot trust him. I can hear things about him that make me think he is trustworthy but I cannot place my trust in someone I have never encountered. "Calling on the name of the Lord" means I am calling on a being. We are saved when we trust with our heart not when we think with our head. We are saved not by saying "I agree with the facts of the story." We are saved by saying "I want you Jesus! I need you God!" The key facts of the gospel concern God's love for us. We need to be aware of His love for us to be saved but we can't be saved by simply being aware, we must encounter God and experience His love first hand.
"With the heart one trusts." We can now see that trust or faith is a matter of the heart. A baby trusts whoever shows it affection. It knows little about anyone or anything but it can recognize love when someone shows love. Whoever shows the most affection the baby trusts the most.
We are very much like this baby even when we are grown. Whoever shows us the most affection we tend to trust the most. People can show us affection and then hurt us proving themselves untrustworthy. But God is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is worthy of our trust. He is fit to have our trust. He is suitable for our trust. He is deserving of our trust. He is honest. He is dependable. He is desirable. We can rely on Him to love us. God is love. He speaks the universal language of love. God captures our hearts!
For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the person of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who cries “Abba! Father!” (Philippians 4:6)
The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
Mind vs. Heart
God pours His love into our hearts. We need to get the knowledge of that love from our hearts to our heads. Our minds are often deceived with false teachings and assurance of falsehood.
My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable. (Colossians 2:2-4)
I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity relating to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
When the mind is deceived it fights off honest feelings and discounts the heart. Untruths always burden you or harm others. The mind holds to supposed facts, often from misinterpreted or out of context scripture, so tightly that when desires for the simplicity of being loved by God come it dismisses those desires and replaces them with guilt and obligations. Through the misery of falsehood the heart is never convinced, it is only oppressed and wishing things were different or there was something more. The mind runs with the heart toward love but the heart suffers and is drug along when the mind runs to falsehood.
The mind does not trust. It operates in logic, plans, propositions, and doctrines. When the mind faces the uncertain, it fears. The mind fears in order to protect its beliefs, ideas, and plans. It brings the heart along with it into fear. The heart doesn't want to fear, it wants security, comfort, and affection. Trust is putting your security in someone else. When our minds are led astray our hearts still cry out for the love of God just as Philippians 4:6 says, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who cries “Abba! Father!”
The mind cries out for certainty and validation. Certainty does not equal truth. Certainty means your mind thinks it has found truth and must protect that truth. It wants validation; for people to agree with it, but does not care about genuine relationship. The heart longs for someone it can trust who offers protection. You can use the mind to love but love comes from the heart.
Love comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere trust. (1 Timothy 1:5)
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in the assurance that trust brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works. (Hebrews 10:22-24)
Now may the Lord direct your hearts toward the love of God and the endurance of Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)
The mind is often the one that stands in the way of us being with our true love Jesus Christ. It convinces us of guilt, though we are forgiven, cleansed, and made right with God. When we are not convinced of our right standing with God (righteousness) our relationship with God is broken in practicality, meaning our mind will not let us relate to Him until it thinks we have been good enough to do so. Offering our body or mind to sin does not break our fellowship with God. The only thing that disallows fellowship with Him is not being convinced of our right standing with God. But just as God pours out love into our hearts and places the Spirit in our hearts to cry out to Him in love, He also convinces us of our right standing with Him (see John 16:7-10).
As Hebrews 10 points out our hearts are clean. We do not have the deceitfully wicked heart mentioned in Jeremiah 17:9. We have the Spirit of God in our hearts. God does not dwell in wickedness. Our hearts are, as Luke 8:15 says, good and noble. The Christian heart is not deceitfully wicked! Be bound by the lie no longer. Know that God has created a clean heart in those who trust in Him.
Renewing the Mind
Our hearts are now good but scripture says that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.
Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and thus prove what the will of God is, good and well-pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)
The verb "be transformed" is in the passive voice (E.g., in the sentence, "The boy was hit by the ball," the boy receives the action). This means the transforming is done to you by God. You don't have to work to renew your mind but the verb is still also a command. So we are to let God transform us. We let Him transform us by offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God. The wording from the Message for Romans 12:1 explains what "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices" means:
"With God helping you take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him."
Knowing and Doing God's Will
Once our mind is being renewed we will be able to know God's will & show that it is good, well-pleasing, and perfect.
Jesus said, "My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and trusts in Him shall have eternal life. Eternal life is intimately knowing God." (John 6:40, 17:3)
You do not have to discern God's will for your life. God's will for all of His followers is for them to trust Him. All of life springs from relying on God and being confident in Him. Life in Christ is walking with God and letting Him love you. He will show you as you walk with Him who to love & when. Ephesians 6:6 says we do the will of God from the heart.
Jesus said, "This is the work of God: to trust in Jesus Christ whom God has sent." (John 6:29)
I will briefly break down how this trust plays out. The work of God (doing good/loving) is: Reliance On God (to show you when, where, who, and how to love), Compliance to God (doing what He has said), and Reliance On God to be able to do what He said to do (with His love, wisdom, strength, courage, etc).
Peace in Our Hearts and Minds
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and humble asking with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
Here God promises that peace will guard our hearts and minds. But what is the condition? Talking to God. That's it! Talking to God and being thankful. When? All the time, in every situation. Well that is a relationship. Telling God what is on your heart at any given time. The more you trust someone the more you are willing to confide in them. The more you are willing to entrust yourself to them. Of course it is like this with God also. When we trust Him we have no problem with being open and honest with Him. Colossians 3:15 says to "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." How do we do that? By being open and talking with God with gratitude.
Scriptures Speaking of Love and the Heart
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. But if someone loves God, he is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:1-2)
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him. The eyes of your heart have been enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who trust, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms is the same power that is working in you. (Ephesians 1:17-20)
I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through trust, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
Think of falling in love. Your heart's desire to be with the other person will cause your mind to think of anything you can do to be with them. Now imagine you have no heart's desire for a person but you logically see how they would be good to marry. You have to put a whole lot more effort in convincing yourself to be with them. If someone came along who captured your heart you would be much more inclined to pursue them rather than the person who is the "logical" choice.
Love and Trust Speak Heart Language.
Love and trust speak heart language. We are saved through trust for Jesus in our hearts not facts about Him in our heads.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one trusts and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who trusts in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:9-13)
Those who are perishing found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
Set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts (1 Peter 3:15)
God Captures Our Hearts!
God captures our hearts! We cannot know God by simply considering certain facts about Him to be true in our minds. I can know things about my uncle but that does not mean I've met him. If I have never encountered him I cannot trust him. I can hear things about him that make me think he is trustworthy but I cannot place my trust in someone I have never encountered. "Calling on the name of the Lord" means I am calling on a being. We are saved when we trust with our heart not when we think with our head. We are saved not by saying "I agree with the facts of the story." We are saved by saying "I want you Jesus! I need you God!" The key facts of the gospel concern God's love for us. We need to be aware of His love for us to be saved but we can't be saved by simply being aware, we must encounter God and experience His love first hand.
"With the heart one trusts." We can now see that trust or faith is a matter of the heart. A baby trusts whoever shows it affection. It knows little about anyone or anything but it can recognize love when someone shows love. Whoever shows the most affection the baby trusts the most.
We are very much like this baby even when we are grown. Whoever shows us the most affection we tend to trust the most. People can show us affection and then hurt us proving themselves untrustworthy. But God is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is worthy of our trust. He is fit to have our trust. He is suitable for our trust. He is deserving of our trust. He is honest. He is dependable. He is desirable. We can rely on Him to love us. God is love. He speaks the universal language of love. God captures our hearts!
For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the person of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who cries “Abba! Father!” (Philippians 4:6)
The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
Mind vs. Heart
God pours His love into our hearts. We need to get the knowledge of that love from our hearts to our heads. Our minds are often deceived with false teachings and assurance of falsehood.
My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable. (Colossians 2:2-4)
I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity relating to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
When the mind is deceived it fights off honest feelings and discounts the heart. Untruths always burden you or harm others. The mind holds to supposed facts, often from misinterpreted or out of context scripture, so tightly that when desires for the simplicity of being loved by God come it dismisses those desires and replaces them with guilt and obligations. Through the misery of falsehood the heart is never convinced, it is only oppressed and wishing things were different or there was something more. The mind runs with the heart toward love but the heart suffers and is drug along when the mind runs to falsehood.
The mind does not trust. It operates in logic, plans, propositions, and doctrines. When the mind faces the uncertain, it fears. The mind fears in order to protect its beliefs, ideas, and plans. It brings the heart along with it into fear. The heart doesn't want to fear, it wants security, comfort, and affection. Trust is putting your security in someone else. When our minds are led astray our hearts still cry out for the love of God just as Philippians 4:6 says, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who cries “Abba! Father!”
The mind cries out for certainty and validation. Certainty does not equal truth. Certainty means your mind thinks it has found truth and must protect that truth. It wants validation; for people to agree with it, but does not care about genuine relationship. The heart longs for someone it can trust who offers protection. You can use the mind to love but love comes from the heart.
Love comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere trust. (1 Timothy 1:5)
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in the assurance that trust brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works. (Hebrews 10:22-24)
Now may the Lord direct your hearts toward the love of God and the endurance of Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)
The mind is often the one that stands in the way of us being with our true love Jesus Christ. It convinces us of guilt, though we are forgiven, cleansed, and made right with God. When we are not convinced of our right standing with God (righteousness) our relationship with God is broken in practicality, meaning our mind will not let us relate to Him until it thinks we have been good enough to do so. Offering our body or mind to sin does not break our fellowship with God. The only thing that disallows fellowship with Him is not being convinced of our right standing with God. But just as God pours out love into our hearts and places the Spirit in our hearts to cry out to Him in love, He also convinces us of our right standing with Him (see John 16:7-10).
As Hebrews 10 points out our hearts are clean. We do not have the deceitfully wicked heart mentioned in Jeremiah 17:9. We have the Spirit of God in our hearts. God does not dwell in wickedness. Our hearts are, as Luke 8:15 says, good and noble. The Christian heart is not deceitfully wicked! Be bound by the lie no longer. Know that God has created a clean heart in those who trust in Him.
Renewing the Mind
Our hearts are now good but scripture says that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.
Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and thus prove what the will of God is, good and well-pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)
The verb "be transformed" is in the passive voice (E.g., in the sentence, "The boy was hit by the ball," the boy receives the action). This means the transforming is done to you by God. You don't have to work to renew your mind but the verb is still also a command. So we are to let God transform us. We let Him transform us by offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God. The wording from the Message for Romans 12:1 explains what "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices" means:
"With God helping you take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him."
Knowing and Doing God's Will
Once our mind is being renewed we will be able to know God's will & show that it is good, well-pleasing, and perfect.
Jesus said, "My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and trusts in Him shall have eternal life. Eternal life is intimately knowing God." (John 6:40, 17:3)
You do not have to discern God's will for your life. God's will for all of His followers is for them to trust Him. All of life springs from relying on God and being confident in Him. Life in Christ is walking with God and letting Him love you. He will show you as you walk with Him who to love & when. Ephesians 6:6 says we do the will of God from the heart.
Jesus said, "This is the work of God: to trust in Jesus Christ whom God has sent." (John 6:29)
I will briefly break down how this trust plays out. The work of God (doing good/loving) is: Reliance On God (to show you when, where, who, and how to love), Compliance to God (doing what He has said), and Reliance On God to be able to do what He said to do (with His love, wisdom, strength, courage, etc).
Peace in Our Hearts and Minds
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and humble asking with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
Here God promises that peace will guard our hearts and minds. But what is the condition? Talking to God. That's it! Talking to God and being thankful. When? All the time, in every situation. Well that is a relationship. Telling God what is on your heart at any given time. The more you trust someone the more you are willing to confide in them. The more you are willing to entrust yourself to them. Of course it is like this with God also. When we trust Him we have no problem with being open and honest with Him. Colossians 3:15 says to "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." How do we do that? By being open and talking with God with gratitude.
Scriptures Speaking of Love and the Heart
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. But if someone loves God, he is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:1-2)
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him. The eyes of your heart have been enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who trust, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms is the same power that is working in you. (Ephesians 1:17-20)
I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through trust, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Trusting and Faithful
The Greek word pistos is a word that is translated into English as faithful, trustworthy, or believer. Pistos is similar to the verb pisteuo which means “to consider something to be true and therefore worthy of one’s trust, to believe.” Faith does mean belief and trust. Today someone who is a believer isn't always thought to be faithful or trustworthy. By use of this word (pistos) God defines what we translate as "a believer" one in the same as someone who is faithful or trustworthy.
"He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." (Revelation 17:14)
The word pistos is an adjective. An adjective is a word that expresses an attribute of something. The words faithful & trustworthy are adjectives while the word believer is a noun.
One definition of pistos is used "of someone proven to be reliable and trustworthy in and by the execution of a given action." So someone who is faithful has not only confessed their faith in Jesus, but their life is also characterized as “faithful” to what God has declared.
I have found that the word faithful can be used to replace the word believer in the contexts of pistos being used but believer cannot replace the word faithful. Those who are faithful do place their faith in Christ but they are more than simply "believers." A believer trusts and has faith in what they believe is true. While a faithful person not only has trust and faith in what they believe is true but is also trustworthy and faithful to live by their beliefs. “Faithfulness” is a near synonym for “obedience.” The faithful accept God's truth and live in accordance with His commands (Want to know what God's will is? His commands are His will). Faithfulness to God is wrapped up in doing what He commands—that which pleases Him.
In 1 Corinthians 1:9 & 2 Corinthians 1:18 this same word (pistos) is used to declare that "God is faithful." As God makes us into His own character we become more and more faithful just as He is faithful.
"Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who calls you, is faithful and He also will bring it to pass." (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
In closing we return to the verb pisteuo which again means "to believe, to trust, to have faith in." We return because this word is sometimes translated as the noun believer(s) also. When translated as believer(s) it should instead say "those who believe" or "those who trust." This may seem small but is worthy of note that scripture does not use a noun that means "believer." We have a verb, pisteuo, which focuses on the action of faith, trust, or belief. We have an adjective, pistos, which is used to describe someone who as trustworthy or faithful.
God does not use the word believer for His children. God says His children believe, trust, & have faith in Him. God calls those same children faithful and trustworthy because of their obedience to Him. Why is this significant? Because in terms of faith God does not give us a name to rest in (believer). Instead God wants us to actively have faith and for our character to be described as faithful. Our faith/belief/trust is not determined by a name we call ourselves but by our character that results from obeying Christ's commands. Truly faith without works is dead.
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"He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." (Revelation 17:14)
The word pistos is an adjective. An adjective is a word that expresses an attribute of something. The words faithful & trustworthy are adjectives while the word believer is a noun.
One definition of pistos is used "of someone proven to be reliable and trustworthy in and by the execution of a given action." So someone who is faithful has not only confessed their faith in Jesus, but their life is also characterized as “faithful” to what God has declared.
I have found that the word faithful can be used to replace the word believer in the contexts of pistos being used but believer cannot replace the word faithful. Those who are faithful do place their faith in Christ but they are more than simply "believers." A believer trusts and has faith in what they believe is true. While a faithful person not only has trust and faith in what they believe is true but is also trustworthy and faithful to live by their beliefs. “Faithfulness” is a near synonym for “obedience.” The faithful accept God's truth and live in accordance with His commands (Want to know what God's will is? His commands are His will). Faithfulness to God is wrapped up in doing what He commands—that which pleases Him.
In 1 Corinthians 1:9 & 2 Corinthians 1:18 this same word (pistos) is used to declare that "God is faithful." As God makes us into His own character we become more and more faithful just as He is faithful.
"Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who calls you, is faithful and He also will bring it to pass." (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
In closing we return to the verb pisteuo which again means "to believe, to trust, to have faith in." We return because this word is sometimes translated as the noun believer(s) also. When translated as believer(s) it should instead say "those who believe" or "those who trust." This may seem small but is worthy of note that scripture does not use a noun that means "believer." We have a verb, pisteuo, which focuses on the action of faith, trust, or belief. We have an adjective, pistos, which is used to describe someone who as trustworthy or faithful.
God does not use the word believer for His children. God says His children believe, trust, & have faith in Him. God calls those same children faithful and trustworthy because of their obedience to Him. Why is this significant? Because in terms of faith God does not give us a name to rest in (believer). Instead God wants us to actively have faith and for our character to be described as faithful. Our faith/belief/trust is not determined by a name we call ourselves but by our character that results from obeying Christ's commands. Truly faith without works is dead.
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Detailed Grammatical Description
Greek adjectives can be substantive, meaning they they can function as a noun. The word believer is always a noun but the word faithful can be an adjective or a noun. I have found that the word faithful can be used to replace the word believer in the contexts of pistos being used but believer cannot replace the word faithful. Yes the faithful are "those who believe", "those who have faith," that meaning is inclusive within faithful. Believer is not a title or name God has given us. Faithful (one who has faith or one who is trustworthy) is the proper meaning of pistos & can be used with clarity as it's translation in all cases.
Greek verbs in the participle mood can also be substantive, meaning they they can function as a noun. An example would be if the Greek verb pisteuo, meaning trust or believe, were in the participle mood it would mean "one who believes/trusts" or "those who believe/trust." This is why some Greek verbs are translated into English nouns. The problem with translating the Greek verbs as English nouns is that the verbs denote action & have a tense and a voice. [The voice indicates whether the subject is the performer of the action of the verb (active voice), the recipient of the action (passive voice), or ther performer and receiver of the action (middle voice)].
Let us take the English word driver, referring to one who drives a vehicle, as an example. As a noun driver is a name or a title. A person who is employed as a truck driver doesn't have to be driving a truck right now to be called a driver. If we use the verb drive as a participle meaning "one who drives" it can refer to a driver but the focus is on the action of driving. The tense indicates when the action of driving occurs. The tense could refer to the "one who drove" (past tense) or the "one who drives" (present tense), etc.
When the word believer is used as a title or name (a pure noun as it would appear to those reading the bible) one doesn't have to be presently believing or trusting to be identified. When the word believe/trust is in the participle mood & present tense it refers to "one who believes/trusts." In this case the one who believes/trusts is identified by present belief/trust and not by the name or title of "believer." The Greek verb pisteuo (believe/trust) is translated as believer(s) 4 times in many translations (Acts 4:32, Acts 5:14, 1 Thessalonians 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 2:10) in every case the verb's mood is participle.
Greek adjectives can be substantive, meaning they they can function as a noun. The word believer is always a noun but the word faithful can be an adjective or a noun. I have found that the word faithful can be used to replace the word believer in the contexts of pistos being used but believer cannot replace the word faithful. Yes the faithful are "those who believe", "those who have faith," that meaning is inclusive within faithful. Believer is not a title or name God has given us. Faithful (one who has faith or one who is trustworthy) is the proper meaning of pistos & can be used with clarity as it's translation in all cases.
Greek verbs in the participle mood can also be substantive, meaning they they can function as a noun. An example would be if the Greek verb pisteuo, meaning trust or believe, were in the participle mood it would mean "one who believes/trusts" or "those who believe/trust." This is why some Greek verbs are translated into English nouns. The problem with translating the Greek verbs as English nouns is that the verbs denote action & have a tense and a voice. [The voice indicates whether the subject is the performer of the action of the verb (active voice), the recipient of the action (passive voice), or ther performer and receiver of the action (middle voice)].
Let us take the English word driver, referring to one who drives a vehicle, as an example. As a noun driver is a name or a title. A person who is employed as a truck driver doesn't have to be driving a truck right now to be called a driver. If we use the verb drive as a participle meaning "one who drives" it can refer to a driver but the focus is on the action of driving. The tense indicates when the action of driving occurs. The tense could refer to the "one who drove" (past tense) or the "one who drives" (present tense), etc.
When the word believer is used as a title or name (a pure noun as it would appear to those reading the bible) one doesn't have to be presently believing or trusting to be identified. When the word believe/trust is in the participle mood & present tense it refers to "one who believes/trusts." In this case the one who believes/trusts is identified by present belief/trust and not by the name or title of "believer." The Greek verb pisteuo (believe/trust) is translated as believer(s) 4 times in many translations (Acts 4:32, Acts 5:14, 1 Thessalonians 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 2:10) in every case the verb's mood is participle.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
God is the Source of All Good
God is the Source of All Good
- Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:17)
- A man is unable to have anything if it is not given to him from heaven. (John 3:27)
- Indeed, everything comes from God (1 Chronicles 29:14)
- God has bound all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all. (Romans 11:32)
- The payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
- This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (1 John 4:10-11)
- We love because God loved us first. (1 John 4:19)
- No one can come to me (Jesus Christ) unless the Father has allowed him to come. (John 6:65)
- For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
- For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)
- But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! (Ephesians 2:4-5)
- For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
- God is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel! (2 Timothy 1:9-10)
- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you. God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. This salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
- It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13, NIV)
- The one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God. (Philippians 2:13, NET)
- Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21)
- Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who reside in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
- O Lord, you make us secure & establish peace for us, for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us. (Isaiah 26:12)
- It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God. (2 Corinthians 3:5)
- In Judah the hand of God was on the people to give to them one heart to do the command of the king and the officials by the word of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 30:12)
- For I (Paul) am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (1 Corinthians 15:1-10)
- For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)
- If anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)
- What makes you better than anyone else? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own? (1 Corinthians 4:7)
- From the fullness of his grace we have all received one gracious blessing after another. (John 1:16)
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