Knowledge and Faith

This last week I spent time in Orlando, Florida volunteering with a Bible quiz ministry called National Bible Bowl. Teenagers all over the country study portions of the Bible and come together at tournaments to demonstrate knowledge of God’s Word in a unique competition that combines memorization of scripture and recall. The best part of this ministry is that for many of these young people, it is the one ministry that helps develop their faith.

Faith is not built on knowledge, as we have faith in what we cannot see, but knowledge helps build our faith. Knowledge has never saved me from or for anything. I still do not know how the periodical table will give me guidance in my life, but I learned it, and because I learned it, I can see how the elements can combine and create a chemical that can help or heal. With that knowledge, I understand that events occur that I cannot always see but because I know how they work, I believe that they work. It makes sense to me. It’s how I have maintained faith. The knowledge did not give me faith, but it led me to believe in what I could not see with my physical eyes.

Last year I blogged how this Bible quiz ministry is nerdy but very much needed in our churches. I still believe that. We need knowledge that confirms our faith. A cliché that many say, “God said it; I believe it and that’s it” is cute, but how inaccurate it is because many people not even know what God said! It has taken me years in my faith journey to be consistent to open the Bible and read it for my own. I used the Bible to study, but I have to also use it to guide my life with my faith.

As a teacher, I know that when students have knowledge about a subject, they are able to excel at the application of that knowledge. Many of them have resorted to cheating when they do not know and understand. They cheat because with a lack of knowledge they have a lack of faith in themselves and in the system. When people lack knowledge of God’s Word, they begin to say words and live life of how others dictate for them to live, which is cheating themselves from a personal relationship with God. A relationship demands that we know the other person and not just facts about the other person.

The young people and their coaches and parents in this ministry strive to have both knowledge and a faith that requires strength.  Some of the former students in this ministry have become exceptional leaders in their churches and in their communities, and their faith continues to become stronger. Yes, some students have made decisions that have led them away from the church and some from God, but they keep encountering and engaging with those of us who know them and continue to pray for them to encounter God and rekindle a relationship with Him that joins both knowledge and faith. This ministry builds lifelong relationships that those who run from God cannot escape. Those who connect with those who have run continue to pray and show love to them. It’s difficult to be mean when someone is showing you kindness.

The church will begin to thrive as it allows those with knowledge to show their faith and lead in areas of ministry. We are at a crucial time in our history in the American church. We need to incorporate knowledge into our lives along with our faith. The ministry of these Bible quiz teams may be unique, but they are vital to the heartbeat of our churches. In this time in our American history, we need young people who know God’s Word, love those who they encounter and have faith because they have seen how the knowledge builds faith. We need to KNOW God and connect God with those who need to know him. Then, the church will begin to impact the world, and the impact the church makes will be with the love of Jesus. Let’s begin to make that impact.

Adventure Is Out There!

If you are a normal person, you travel without any hitches, and if a hitch occurs, someone in your party throws a temper tantrum. That person should never travel with me because the journey will not be without small complications.  It’s the complications and hitches that makes traveling an adventure. An adventure is much more fun to endure than a smooth trip because an adventure has thrills, excitement, difficulties, and triumphs. Life should be an adventure not a smooth comfortable trip.

In the Disney movie, Up, it is exclaimed throughout the film, “Adventure is out there!” Throughout the film the characters discover that adventure is not always somewhere out there, but with us every day if we just look for it.

On an adventure you see new places, take in the scenery, eat exotic food (or at least food you don’t indulge in every day), and meet the most interesting people. I strike up conversations with people all around me. The people teach so much about life. the scenery reminds me that there are beautiful places all over our world. If in our own hometowns we would appreciate the beauty of what is around us, especially the people, we would discover how spectacular life can be. we wouldn’t fear the unknown or people we do not know, but we would embrace them with our presence and take a risk to speak to them and show kindness.

On an adventure, there are difficulties. We get lost in new places; we get caught in storms; we go to places that are not as great as the brochure said they were, and we honestly get frustrated with our fellow travelers. There are always difficulties, but it’s how we respond to them that creates in us a spirit that continues to move forward and fight whatever battle is in our way. Life needs to be an adventure. We need to face every bump in the road with a fresh perspective that even in the hitches and complications in life, there is beauty in the journey. It’s only through failures and complications and tragedies do we grow stronger and learn more about who we are.

On an adventure, we take risks and discover that we are stronger than what we thought we were. Whether it is eating food we have never tried, or exerting a physical activity that we thought we could not conquer, or exploring a place on the path that went in a different direction. We must take risks in life in order to grow as people. Taking a risk means leaving our comfort zone to grow and learn in order to make a difference in the world. If we never leave our comfortable space, how can we really make a difference?

On an adventure, we meet new people who are different from the people who we usually befriend. In our lives every day, we should be making a conscious effort to gout outside of our comfort zone and meet people in order to show them who Jesus is. It can be a friendly gesture to a barista, especially a new one, or the clerk at a store. It can be a parent who is in public with little ones running around testing every facet of the parent. A kind word can make a world of difference to someone. We never know what someone else’s struggles are.

As I read the gospels, I have discovered that every day with the Jesus the disciples had an adventure. They experienced Jesus calming storms on the water, healing various diseases, saw demons come out of people, ate with various people that many religious leaders considered unfit, went to many places, broke rules on the Sabbath, and one even was able to walk on water. Most of all, they experienced Jesus’s love and grace, especially through his sacrifice on the cross. In the end, those disciples created their own adventures and the church was born. It was not comfortable or easy, but in the end, the adventure was well worth it.

So, I may be in another state from where I live, but I have learned that I need to take my adventurous spirit with me and create an adventure that is well worth it. “Adventure is out there!” All that is needed is to step out of our comfort zones and into the unknown of a great big world waiting for us.

Love vs. Rules

Last Sunday, our pastor reminded us that we do not have to be perfect to come to Jesus. We need to go to Jesus and let Him change us.

When I was in youth ministry, an angry parent had to speak to me about the new students attending our youth ministry. This parent informed me that they should not be at church and I should not encourage the young people to bring their friends because these new teenagers were “bad kids.” Ironically, whatever actions and activities this parent was blaming these “bad kids” doing, the actions and activities of this parent’s own child was just as great. I was horrified. I knew people thought that, but it was the first time it was said to my face.

Jesus said he came for the sinner not the righteous. He came for the sick, not the healthy. The church needs to be a place where the sick and sinner can come and find health. If we fall into the trap that only good people can come to church, then we are failing to understand why Jesus even came to earth in the first place.

The religious leaders struggled with Jesus. The people who should have known him and become his faithful followers were the fewest to believe in Jesus, and they questioned everything He did, especially with whom he spent his time. The people who spent the most time with Jesus were the ones who needed him the most. He even had a tax collector among his twelve disciples, which was considered a career that was full of lying, cheating, and stealing. Somehow, that tax collector was allowed into Jesus’s group of twelve, and yet, today the church struggles to allow someone like that into the church.

Romans 3 reminds us that we all sin. Somehow, many of us have forgotten that we sin, or we believe that our sin is not as great as another person’s. Jesus reminds us that sin is sin. If we even look at someone in a lustful manner it is adultery. Since we are all guilty of sin, we cannot block someone with a sin that is different from ours from coming to Jesus. Most people will come to church to find Jesus, and no matter what Christian church they walk into, I hope they find Him.

People who do not know Jesus cannot follow the ways of Jesus until they come to Him and desire to follow Him and love him. The disciples were not perfect when they met Jesus and decided to follow Him. They were not perfect as they continued to follow Him, as Jesus had to remind them to have faith throughout his ministry.  

Following Jesus and loving him is more than just a list of rules to be obeyed. When we reduce Christianity to a list of rules, we reduce Jesus to a human being who only loves those who obey and follow Him. Jesus is bigger than that. Jesus loves everyone, including those who don’t love Him. Jesus loves people who don’t obey Him or even believe in Him. If Jesus can love them, then His followers also need to love them.

A relationship needs to be built on love and not on obeying a list of rules. We will obey Jesus if we love Him, and desire to build our relationship with Him. a list of rules is built so that people can keep others in check. It’s hard to measure the love someone has, so we reduce the love to rules.

With a list of rules, comes guilt. As people try to manipulate others in Christianity to live by a certain set of guidelines or rules, they enforce the emotion of guilt when a rule or guideline is not followed. We should feel remorse for sinning against God, but it should be toward God and not the person who taught us that it was a sin. Using guilt as a motivator only works for a period of time. Then, the person no longer reacts to guilt. I’ve seen it happen with younger and older adults, and yet, I continue to observe Christians using the tactic of guilt to motivate someone to perform a task or not commit a sin. Jesus did not use guilt. Jesus did not have to manipulate. Jesus inspired. It’s time we inspire.

Inspiration comes when we show love and grace to others and invite them to Jesus. When we lead people to Jesus and take down barriers that many think they have to cross, we will see them come to Jesus and change because Jesus is powerful to induce change and growth. When we follow rules, we just keep moving in life. When we show love and grace, we make a difference in life. It is more difficult to show love and grace. It takes a conscious effort to show love and grace, and it must be done. Let us lead others to Jesus as we live our lives revealing his love and grace.