"In the ninth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when one makes an appeal to believe in a manner as if a person could make himself believe, or at least help toward that end, instead of preaching faith into a person's heart by laying the Gospel promises before him." C. F. W. Walther, Thesis 13.
"Just believe." A person has a question about some matter of the faith. Not so much a life or death matter, but one in which that person simply cannot see God's hand at work. That person shares their concern with another Christian who, desiring to help, gives that advice. "Just believe." This could apply to many situations, and indeed, I have seen and heard it applied in a variety of situations. But, as our thesis above indicates, perhaps we should think through what such a statement says.
"Just believe." If belief were really that simple, it sure would be nice. The problem is, we simply cannot make ourselves believe something. If I tell you that the grass is blue and the sky is green, you cannot make yourself believe that. Yes, part of that is because your eyes quickly reveal that this isn't the truth. However, this simple exercise shows us something of belief.
Belief comes, not by us convincing ourselves of the truth of something, but when the truth of something is presented to us. (As an aside, yes, we can choose not to believe it, even if it is very clear, which many people do in a lot of areas of life.) That's what this thesis makes clear. We cannot make ourselves believe, otherwise our faith is only in ourselves, and in our ability to convince ourselves of something.
Belief in God, and especially in God's Gospel message of Jesus, comes when we lay the promises of God in the Gospel before the other person. Let's take our (not so) imaginary situation, and see what that would look like. So, the person approaches you, let's say, because they are struggling to believe that God is caring for them during a particularly difficult time in life. Instead of telling them to "just believe,", what if we instead first empathized with them. "Yes, I can see where that could cause you to wonder about God's care for you." Then, what if we reminded them, not of the importance of their faith, but instead, the One in whom they put their faith. "God never promised that life would be easy. But, He did promise that He would remain with us, even in the difficult times. That's what Jesus really is all about. Jesus would endure the worst, so that you could also know that God stays with you through the worst. While God may not make the situation better. He does promise that this will pass, and that He still cares and has the situation in His hand. He had Jesus' hands nailed to the cross to show you the distances He would go to make you His, and He put His Spirit in you at your baptism as a deposit, and He will make good on that deposit."
You see, instead of telling someone to just believe, we instead point them to the one that has done great things for them. It's the difference between a person believing in themselves and believing in God in Christ Jesus. And that, in the end, is a world of difference.
"Just believe." A person has a question about some matter of the faith. Not so much a life or death matter, but one in which that person simply cannot see God's hand at work. That person shares their concern with another Christian who, desiring to help, gives that advice. "Just believe." This could apply to many situations, and indeed, I have seen and heard it applied in a variety of situations. But, as our thesis above indicates, perhaps we should think through what such a statement says.
"Just believe." If belief were really that simple, it sure would be nice. The problem is, we simply cannot make ourselves believe something. If I tell you that the grass is blue and the sky is green, you cannot make yourself believe that. Yes, part of that is because your eyes quickly reveal that this isn't the truth. However, this simple exercise shows us something of belief.
Belief comes, not by us convincing ourselves of the truth of something, but when the truth of something is presented to us. (As an aside, yes, we can choose not to believe it, even if it is very clear, which many people do in a lot of areas of life.) That's what this thesis makes clear. We cannot make ourselves believe, otherwise our faith is only in ourselves, and in our ability to convince ourselves of something.
Belief in God, and especially in God's Gospel message of Jesus, comes when we lay the promises of God in the Gospel before the other person. Let's take our (not so) imaginary situation, and see what that would look like. So, the person approaches you, let's say, because they are struggling to believe that God is caring for them during a particularly difficult time in life. Instead of telling them to "just believe,", what if we instead first empathized with them. "Yes, I can see where that could cause you to wonder about God's care for you." Then, what if we reminded them, not of the importance of their faith, but instead, the One in whom they put their faith. "God never promised that life would be easy. But, He did promise that He would remain with us, even in the difficult times. That's what Jesus really is all about. Jesus would endure the worst, so that you could also know that God stays with you through the worst. While God may not make the situation better. He does promise that this will pass, and that He still cares and has the situation in His hand. He had Jesus' hands nailed to the cross to show you the distances He would go to make you His, and He put His Spirit in you at your baptism as a deposit, and He will make good on that deposit."
You see, instead of telling someone to just believe, we instead point them to the one that has done great things for them. It's the difference between a person believing in themselves and believing in God in Christ Jesus. And that, in the end, is a world of difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment