Recently I have begun a new journey of understanding grace
and what it looks like as I walk through my life. As I make my way through this journey I find
that my mindset has changed. I grew up
in a Christian home and went to a very strict church and attended a Christian
school.
All these things caused the bible and even Christianity to become very academic to me. When I say that I mean that my Bible became more of a text book to me than a guide to life, so to speak; I reduced God to simply another subject in my assignment folder.
I am very analytical by nature and I tend to reduce things to a “there’s a problem, here’s the solution” kind of situation. So… putting God in the academic box worked for me. I got really into apologetics (defending your faith). It pretty much was all about how to win any argument that you may ever encounter from any Non-Christian of any type.
I went to apologetics camps, read books, and even wrote articles about it. I had pretty much all the head knowledge possible when it came to defending your faith. It really helped me at first because I was the kid that always questioned everything and pushed the lines and challenged the norm. So learning apologetics caused me to test everything I believed and find it to be true.
There was a problem though… It was all just head knowledge. I knew every rational argument to prove Christianity, I knew every bible verse reference to back up my beliefs, I even knew all the biblical history behind every story, but… It didn’t change my life. All that knowledge didn’t keep me from becoming an alcoholic or getting in street fights or hanging with the wrong people.
It didn’t heal the deep scars on my heart from having my trust betrayed. It didn’t drive the bitterness inside me away or comfort my loneliness. All that knowledge didn’t help me at all. See, here’s the thing about grace that’s so amazing; it changes your heart.
I believed in God, that he was real, that his son died to save me, and I feared him. I feared punishment, feared judgment, and feared disappointing him. Then grace came along and it saved me from the fear. Now I know, not only all the facts about God, but also the crazy, amazing, life ruining, breath taking relationship with God.
Many churches promote the faith of demons. Pastors preach it, Christians live it, and Satan enjoys it. Come on guys! There’s more than that! There is freedom on the other side of fear! We are called against the flow to be at peace with God in the midst of our perceived failures. Join me, forsake your faith of demons and find freedom in a faith of grace.
All these things caused the bible and even Christianity to become very academic to me. When I say that I mean that my Bible became more of a text book to me than a guide to life, so to speak; I reduced God to simply another subject in my assignment folder.
I am very analytical by nature and I tend to reduce things to a “there’s a problem, here’s the solution” kind of situation. So… putting God in the academic box worked for me. I got really into apologetics (defending your faith). It pretty much was all about how to win any argument that you may ever encounter from any Non-Christian of any type.
I went to apologetics camps, read books, and even wrote articles about it. I had pretty much all the head knowledge possible when it came to defending your faith. It really helped me at first because I was the kid that always questioned everything and pushed the lines and challenged the norm. So learning apologetics caused me to test everything I believed and find it to be true.
There was a problem though… It was all just head knowledge. I knew every rational argument to prove Christianity, I knew every bible verse reference to back up my beliefs, I even knew all the biblical history behind every story, but… It didn’t change my life. All that knowledge didn’t keep me from becoming an alcoholic or getting in street fights or hanging with the wrong people.
It didn’t heal the deep scars on my heart from having my trust betrayed. It didn’t drive the bitterness inside me away or comfort my loneliness. All that knowledge didn’t help me at all. See, here’s the thing about grace that’s so amazing; it changes your heart.
In James it says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
I believed in God, that he was real, that his son died to save me, and I feared him. I feared punishment, feared judgment, and feared disappointing him. Then grace came along and it saved me from the fear. Now I know, not only all the facts about God, but also the crazy, amazing, life ruining, breath taking relationship with God.
Many churches promote the faith of demons. Pastors preach it, Christians live it, and Satan enjoys it. Come on guys! There’s more than that! There is freedom on the other side of fear! We are called against the flow to be at peace with God in the midst of our perceived failures. Join me, forsake your faith of demons and find freedom in a faith of grace.
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