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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