The Door For the Spirit

As we read through the Bible, one of the things we learn is that it is God who draws people to Himself.  Sure, in our human way of thinking, we might want to believe that we read about God, or we heard about God, and then we chose to believe in Him, but from God's perspective, nothing happens in terms of faith without the Holy Spirit creating that faith within us.

So we believe that it is God who creates and nurtures and sustains our faith in what God has done for us through Jesus.  And yet, even though that is God's work alone, God still doesn't leave His creation out of the process.  As Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman Christians, faith comes from hearing the word of God.  To put it in a little bit of a different way, faith comes when we either read God's Word of the Bible, or when another person tells us about what God has done, as revealed in the Bible.

In other words, God works through some specific ways, or means.  God's Holy Spirit may be the agent that causes faith to exist, but that same Spirit links Himself to the reading or speaking of God's Word.  God links Himself to a physical part of His creation in order to make people His own.  Sure, God could simply choose to speak to someone without that means, whether through a bodiless voice or in a dream it doesn't matter, but God has uniquely tied Himself to this physical means of opening doors for the Spirit.

This places us, as God's people, into a unique position.  We are people who have received the gift of faith by God's Spirit.  Now, God's Spirit continues to work through us as the means of drawing people to Jesus in faith.  True, we aren't the ones who actually do the work of creating faith in those with whom we share the message.  That's the Spirit's work, and not ours.  However, we still would be wise to be thoughtful about the way we go about sharing that message.  While God's Spirit could still work through an person who shares the message, "God loves you and forgives you in Jesus," with a scowl and an angry voice, for some reason, that message seems more likely to make its way into that persons heart if it's spoken in a reassuring, caring fashion. 

In His wisdom, God has chosen to tie Himself to the spread of His message of Good News through the physical things of this world.  Thanks be to God that we get to be a part of that message.

Christian Conversion, Morality, and Patience

Over the past week, we've been looking at morality, and how we can or cannot enforce morality upon others.  My hope throughout has been to demonstrate that Christians take a wrong approach when we seek to simply change people's behaviors, as though doing so makes the Christian all of a sudden.  Instead, issues of morality start deep inside a person, and spring forth from their beliefs.  Hence, if Christians would like to see a more Christian morality in those around us, the proper course of action is not to enforce rules of behavior or morality upon them, but to seek to change their hearts and beliefs, a task which God alone can do.

In fact, God's Word of the Bible makes it clear that only God can do this work, and He does it through His Word which we speak.  In Isaiah, we hear that fairly well-known set of verses in which God declares that He sends forth His Word, and it will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it.  I see two matters at work here that we as Christians find difficult.

First is the reliance upon God's Word and Spirit to do the work of changing a person's heart.  That doesn't seem like an effective way to work.  We start to think that we have to answer people's every question perfectly, even if the Bible doesn't have anything specific to say on the subject of their question.  But in the end, it is simply God's Word and Spirit that changes people.  Our most eloquent and persuasive arguments do nothing to change the heart and beliefs of another.  Only God's Spirit and Word do.

The second thing is that the change of heart and beliefs is not a fast and easy thing.  True, there are some things that are more easily changed than others.  But in the end, when God's Word and His Spirit have worked on a person's heart and changed them to belief in God, that's when a slow process begins, which calls for patience on our part.  There will be struggles and questions that the person will have.  There will most likely not be an instantaneous change in everything.  We have to be willing to be patient, to walk with that person through the questions and struggles that arise as their faith is incorporated into their life.

Have you ever walked the long, slow road with a person whose heart and faith has been changed?  What was it like?  You probably have a lot of wisdom for the rest of us, which we would be wise to heed as God's Word continues to do its work through us.