Beloved People of God,
When did our faith become theoretical? It sometimes seems that for many, the form of their Christianity is just an external set of theoretical ideas they wear, rather than a wisdom embodied within, shaping how they believe and live. Cloaked in these concepts, they rush into battle and quickly become disillusioned as their faith is torn to shreds (Acts 19.11-20).
A dear mentor, Murriel McCulley, once wrote, “Throughout the Bible, training was for living and not solely for the acquisition of knowledge.” Our witness to Jesus as the Christ is more than just an idea, more than a theory, more than a Christian cloak we wear against the chill of existential dread. Our faith in Jesus Christ is a grace which multiplies in our lives, and the lives of those around us, as we live into it.
But how do we assess this? Here’s an easy test we can use to examine if our faith has become theoretical, unable to survive outside the vacuum of inaction. Ask yourself, “Can I sit quietly by myself?” That’s it. What happens when we finally get away from all the noise, all the distractions, all the busy-ness we use to crowd out the silence of being alone with God?
Blaise Pascal believed, “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” and I think he’s right. This is what James means when he writes “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4.1-2).
Our inability to sit alone with God leads us to all kinds of violence. It is our unchecked pride which keeps us angry and agitated. Refusing to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, we stir ourselves up. Unwilling to confront the corrupted desires in our lives we turn our ire on others. We rage at the way he votes, and the way she leads. Rejecting the joy of submitting to God, we curse one another and rob ourselves of peace (4.7-12).
Friend, hear James 4.6: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
For Christ the King,
Brett