So this is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while and hopefully I can explain it well. I've been around a lot of different traditions of christianity (from Lutheran and Catholic schools, to baptist churches, to charismatic churches, to believers from other cultures who see things very differently) and my observation is that there seem to be two prevailing attitudes among believers: defeated or demanding. More importantly neither of these attitudes seems to really connect with the heart of what faith should be.
Defeated believers claim to have a relationship with God, but it seems like they don’t expect anything from God beyond moral support. They go to church, learn what they should do, and are constantly reminded that they can never live up to God's standards, but they should try their best anyway. Being a Christian becomes about doing the acceptable Christian thing. When troubles and challenges come the response varies: maybe it is a test, maybe a punishment from God, or maybe an attack of the enemy. Regardless of what the cause is the only option is to pray, try to do better at living the christian life, and just do your best to endure it and not disappoint God by letting it get you down. Often people with this attitude come across as believing their faith is powerless to change circumstances and despite their relationship with God, they usually sound like they have no clue what God is doing. They pray things like, "God if it is your will,…" and then resign themselves to God's will being whatever happens. At the worst extreme this attitude degenerates into fatalism and a sitting around doing nothing and waiting for God to do everything.
The other end of the spectrum is the growing trend, especially in charismatic and “emerging church” circles, of demanding believers. These are the people who seem to think that “faith” obligates God to do as they want. If I just believe I’ll get something enough, then God is obligated to fulfill my wishes. There is a strong focus on God’s positive promises, but almost nothing is said about God’s negative promises. This attitude can also lead to blaming people for the bad things that happen to them because “If you just had enough faith, it wouldn’t happen.” And the same spiritual pride that the Pharisees had creeps in: I am prosperous so God must approve of me; I am doing this for God so the end justifies the means (eg. I will say God told me something when I’m pretty sure it is something he wants to do based on my theology not a direct encounter with God). Doing the right thing becomes less important than continuing the work of God. This demanding attitude shows up in a variety of ways, but I think the hallmark is an assumption about what God will do, then either deciding when and where he is going to do it through us (eg: tonight we are going to have this spiritual experience or God will speak to everyone here tonight etc.) or promising God will act on behalf of all comers in some public venue (eg. spiritual reading booths or dream interpretations).
So then I wonder what does real faith look like. I don’t have all the answers, but I do remember the stories. God telling Abraham to sacrifice the son that was the fulfillment of all God’s promises to him, and early the next morning Abraham gets up and starts his journey to do so. Joseph, sitting in jail under false accusations, his prophetic dreams that he would rule seem like a cruel mockery, but when two men claim to have had dreams of their own he still believes God will give him the interpretation. Jonathan, siding with the man God had chosen to rule even though the kingship was his birthright. Hosea taking back a cheating wife because God told him to do so. 3 young captives, they’ve lost their families, their nation, even their names. They’ve been given power. But they’d rather lose all they have left, even their lives than betray their God. And a young church under attack, praying not for God to take away the difficulties, but for God to make them bold enough to do what they know he requires, no matter the cost. And here, faith looks like an agreement with God, to carry out his purposes, no matter what happens to me as a result. It looks a lot like Puddleglum, “ This may be the death of us, but that doesn’t let us off following Aslan’s signs”. I don’t have that kind of faith yet. I don’t even see it very often, but I know one thing about it. When I see that kind of faith, I’m inspired and I long for my own faith to increase.
Defeated believers claim to have a relationship with God, but it seems like they don’t expect anything from God beyond moral support. They go to church, learn what they should do, and are constantly reminded that they can never live up to God's standards, but they should try their best anyway. Being a Christian becomes about doing the acceptable Christian thing. When troubles and challenges come the response varies: maybe it is a test, maybe a punishment from God, or maybe an attack of the enemy. Regardless of what the cause is the only option is to pray, try to do better at living the christian life, and just do your best to endure it and not disappoint God by letting it get you down. Often people with this attitude come across as believing their faith is powerless to change circumstances and despite their relationship with God, they usually sound like they have no clue what God is doing. They pray things like, "God if it is your will,…" and then resign themselves to God's will being whatever happens. At the worst extreme this attitude degenerates into fatalism and a sitting around doing nothing and waiting for God to do everything.
The other end of the spectrum is the growing trend, especially in charismatic and “emerging church” circles, of demanding believers. These are the people who seem to think that “faith” obligates God to do as they want. If I just believe I’ll get something enough, then God is obligated to fulfill my wishes. There is a strong focus on God’s positive promises, but almost nothing is said about God’s negative promises. This attitude can also lead to blaming people for the bad things that happen to them because “If you just had enough faith, it wouldn’t happen.” And the same spiritual pride that the Pharisees had creeps in: I am prosperous so God must approve of me; I am doing this for God so the end justifies the means (eg. I will say God told me something when I’m pretty sure it is something he wants to do based on my theology not a direct encounter with God). Doing the right thing becomes less important than continuing the work of God. This demanding attitude shows up in a variety of ways, but I think the hallmark is an assumption about what God will do, then either deciding when and where he is going to do it through us (eg: tonight we are going to have this spiritual experience or God will speak to everyone here tonight etc.) or promising God will act on behalf of all comers in some public venue (eg. spiritual reading booths or dream interpretations).
So then I wonder what does real faith look like. I don’t have all the answers, but I do remember the stories. God telling Abraham to sacrifice the son that was the fulfillment of all God’s promises to him, and early the next morning Abraham gets up and starts his journey to do so. Joseph, sitting in jail under false accusations, his prophetic dreams that he would rule seem like a cruel mockery, but when two men claim to have had dreams of their own he still believes God will give him the interpretation. Jonathan, siding with the man God had chosen to rule even though the kingship was his birthright. Hosea taking back a cheating wife because God told him to do so. 3 young captives, they’ve lost their families, their nation, even their names. They’ve been given power. But they’d rather lose all they have left, even their lives than betray their God. And a young church under attack, praying not for God to take away the difficulties, but for God to make them bold enough to do what they know he requires, no matter the cost. And here, faith looks like an agreement with God, to carry out his purposes, no matter what happens to me as a result. It looks a lot like Puddleglum, “ This may be the death of us, but that doesn’t let us off following Aslan’s signs”. I don’t have that kind of faith yet. I don’t even see it very often, but I know one thing about it. When I see that kind of faith, I’m inspired and I long for my own faith to increase.
