Our Beliefs

I just finished reviewing the “Our Beliefs” page on my church’s website. It has nothing unusual for a mainline Christian church. I didn’t find anything to which I couldn’t give a hearty “Amen.” Each statement is backed up by bible verses. Yet, upon a complete reading of the page I didn’t come away with a good sense of what Christianity really is. I guess that’s because Christianity isn’t really a set of beliefs. We make a mistake, I believe, when we cut our faith to a list of beliefs and then dare the world to disagree.

I’m not saying our beliefs are not important. They surely are. What I’m saying is that you can’t give someone the list of beliefs and tell them, “If you believe these, you are a Christian.”  I believe Christianity is much more like a trust exercise. You know the ones. Someone falls backward and “trusts” that a group behind him will catch him before he hits the ground.

We become a Christian after we decide that what we are doing isn’t working. We put our trust in Jesus and stop trusting ourselves. It’s like the trust exercise. We probably become willing to do it because we saw someone else do it first. The first time it’s scary, but with practice we gain confidence and, eventually, we realize it’s the only way to go.

For many, it’s a lot easier to study a set of principles. It’s a study that can become a life-time exercise. There’s always more to learn. There’s always a fine point to debate. Simply letting go and letting God is much simpler, but a lot scarier. If you know someone  you would like to see “saved” (and you know you do) maybe it’s time to stop lecturing and teaching. Pointing out how they fall short and don’t measure up isn’t getting the job done. Besides, they already know that.

What they need is to see someone let go, with a calm smile on their face, and let God catch them. It’s a demonstration without argument or rebuttal. It’s faith expressed in action that speaks so much louder than words.

Be blessed.