Belief

Is it working? Your belief system, that is. Is it really working? God's intention all along has been for the believer's life to work...Are our Christian lives successful? Are they achieving and experiencing what Scripture said they would?(...)

I fear the reality of most Christians differs dramatically from our theology. We bear little resemblance to a church causing the gates of hell to tremble. The gap between our theology and our reality is so wide we've set ourselves up for ridicule. The sad part of it is that some of us are working pretty hard at something that is hardly working." Beth Moore, Believing God, pages 1-2 excerpted

I just started reading this book, and wow. It completely echoes something I've been thinking a lot about recently, that is, the gap between what I know from Scripture and what I actually live out daily. I believe in God, but do I believe Him? There is a difference. I know He exists, but do I believe He really has power? Do I believe He can do "immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine"? Why are we so content to make mud pies instead of enjoying a holiday at the beach? (See C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

Why am I so satisfied with living my humdrum, mediocre existence when I have at my fingertips the very power God used to to resurrect His Son? "We were meant to live for so much more, have we lost ourselves?" Meant to live for more, indeed. God promised us abundant life, but I find myself just hoping to make it through each day. Is that the Spirit-filled life made available to us, promised to us in Scripture? NO! It's a life of self-absorption, of apathy, of an unwillingness to look beyond our presuppositions and dare to believe, to hope that God has plans that are far beyond what we could every conjure up. No wonder the world views us a foolish and ignorant. For the most part, we spend our time criticizing society but do little to impact or change it.

The solution? I'm not going to pretend I know it. But I do know this: we cannot truly believe God if we don't know Him. And we won't know Him if we don't know His Word. And we won't know His word if we don't spend time with Him. It all comes down to one thing (or two, depending on how you look at it): knowing Him and making Him known.