Tuesday, July 26, 2022

DO YOU HAVE A HAND-ME-DOWN FAITH?

 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)

                If you grew up in a family with more than one child, then you probably understand what it is to live with hand-me-downs. As the older child grows out of something, the younger child grows into it, and so on. It is a pretty common practice in families, and it really makes sense. But when it comes to our faith, hand-me-downs don’t work.

                I made a commitment to follow Jesus when I was 5 years old. I did it because I trusted my parents and my Sunday School teacher. They said it was true, so I believed them and said yes to Jesus. That decision didn’t really impact my life until I was 13. I attended summer camp for the first time. One night at the campfire, the speaker asked if we were sure about our faith. Something stirred in me and I stayed after to talk with the counselor. That night I prayed for an assurance of my faith, but that was not all. I began to realize that if I was a follower of Jesus, it should make a difference in the way I lived my life. I struggled to live up to my hand-me-down faith all the way through high school. It wasn’t until I went to college that my faith really became mine. I began to own my faith in more profound ways.

                Almost all of us begin our spiritual journey with a hand-me-down faith. Someone shared the Gospel with us, and because we trusted them, we put our faith in Jesus. As a Chinese friend of mine once put it, “I had to trust you before I could trust your Jesus.” The foundation of our spiritual journey was based on the faith of others. Paul even points to that in his counsel to Timothy. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:14-15 (NIV)

                But just as we eventually grow out of the hand-me-downs of our childhood, so we must grow beyond a hand-me-down faith. We can continue to live with a hand-me-down faith, but our spiritual life will remain immature and shallow. When the storms of life come to test our faith, we can be shaken. As I did in college, we need to own our faith. That means that we need to examine our faith, ask hard questions, and learn for ourselves the depth and breadth of our faith.

                As with any endeavor in life, growing strong in our faith takes effort and discipline. It begins with intentionally studying the Bible.  We need to discipline ourselves to do more than just read a little in our Bible every day. When I was in college, it was common for us to do a quick read through Our Daily Bread and call it good for the day. Instead of a quick glimpse in the Bible, we need to actually engage with the Bible, seek what God wants to teach us through the Bible, and look below the surface to understand the truths of the Bible. When Jesus taught the crowds, He used parables. He explained to his disciples that He did this to test people’s hearts. Those who were not really interested would just take the parable at face value. But those with the heart to really encounter God would discern the meaning behind the parable. The stories in the Bible are not there for our entertainment. They are there to teach us about God, about sin, about ourselves, and ultimately about Christ and His salvation.

                In addition to studying the Bible, we need to listen to one another. The Christian life was never intended to be a solo journey. We are to live in community with one another. There are practical applications for this as we support and encourage one another. But God has also gifted some in the body to be spiritual guides, teachers who can help us understand and apply God’s word and wisdom to our lives. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)

                The goal of the Christian life is not to just hang on until Jesus comes. The goal of the Christian life is to grow deep into the love and grace of God and to share that with the world around us. We cannot effectively do that with a hand-me-down faith. We need a faith that is truly our own, that is woven into the very fabric of our lives.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

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