Changes in Course

Changes in Course – I was asked a question one time, about 25 years or more ago. I answered it as honestly as I could at the time. The question was, “Which beliefs do you believe you will change over the course of your vocation in ministry?”

My answer was, “None of them.” That was my answer because I felt the question made little sense. It required an ability to look into the future and clearly see the events that would occur in some distant time or place, and interpret those events in a context which I had not grown into yet. It remains one of the sillier ordination questions I believe that has ever been asked.

I have indeed grown over the quarter century since that time. I hope my faith has grown along with me. It has a tendency to do that, but only if we put it to use. Skills develop as we practice them. Trusting our Savior in situations, seeing his guidance and protection in those same situations, and recognizing his faithfulness to us and to his word encourages us to trust more completely and fully. Stumbling through life with no real spiritual context means that we fail to see the events surrounding us as providential in any way at all. An encounter with a homeless person on the street is not an opportunity to minister, witness, or learn. It is simply the random collision of two life paths that then bounce of one another and continue on a lifelong series of other random collisions. I don’t believe God operates that way. I do not believe in randomness in the universe. Yes, I know, that gives me some other difficult questions to answer and puts God on the line for some things we are uncomfortable about laying at his feet.

These 25 years have been strengthened by a firm believe in the faithfulness of the Word of God in the Scriptures. If we cannot believe the Bible, our faith and existence is indeed random. We end up with no standard for truth, righteousness, morality, relationships, or daily living. We have no assurance of eternal life or, even, our own salvation. For all we know, the writings of the Apostles and Prophets may have been the ramblings of some deranged hermit secluded in his cave. Sermons would be pointless, and Sunday school lessons a waste of time. Theology by popular vote would become the practice of the church.

Experiential theology is indeed on the rise and it is one of the most damaging invasions of culture on the Christian Church. “It is only true if I believe it to be true” has become the testing point for historical principles of faith. “Well, if it works for you,” has been the approval stamp of modern personal orthodoxy. However, the early disciples fought and died for things. There were beliefs that were not subject to the approval of others because they had been commanded by their Lord and Savior. Not all that is right is easy. Not all that is easy is right. Jesus never commanded a convert to return to their former way of life. His “Your faith has made you whole” was most often accompanied by a charge to “Go and sin no more.” The present day church needs to keep that model before its eyes in the days ahead.

The picture above is from the healing of the 10 lepers. You see the one is already looking back even as the nine are hurrying to complete their required tasks of cleansing. The one looks back because he knows the process is not complete until the one who made it so is given credit. May our faith be less about us and more about Him every day.

  Pastor Craig