Deciding to Believe

Deciding to Believe

Author: Beth Broom 

When I meet with someone walking through difficult circumstances and ask her how she has tried to work out her problems, that person will often tell me that she has tried many of the prescribed methods of the church, such as prayer, Bible reading and deeper biblical community but is still struggling with the collision of her faith and broken life. She tells me that she believes the truth of God’s Word yet doesn’t feel that truth in her heart.

"This is the disconnect for so many of us with an abundance of scriptural knowledge: We know what we’re supposed to believe, but we have never experienced a crisis in which we must decide to believe. When entering a crisis, we often panic because of the crash between faith and circumstance. However, we need to look at the crisis as opportunity for the Lord to drive His truth further into our souls, shaping us and pushing us toward Him.

So I often ask myself and others three questions when struggling with a crisis: “What truth do I fail to believe about God?” “What truth do I fail to believe about myself?” and ”What truth do I fail to believe about this circumstance?” Ultimately, every situation in which we struggle requires us to decide what we believe about God, ourselves and our circumstances. Unfortunately, we don’t realize that we are  deciding to believe lies instead of truth in those moments. We’re not engaging in meta-cognition, the act of thinking about what we’re thinking about.

This is what Paul means when he admonishes us to “take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). We must think about where our minds automatically go in a crisis. I often realize that I automatically think, “God is not trustworthy,” or, “I must handle this on my own.” These are thoughts I must take captive, claiming truth instead of lies.

All this, of course, must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. When I try to stop feeling anxious about my circumstances, I just begin to feel anxious about feeling anxious. But when I lay my crisis before the Father and admit that I am failing to trust Him and trying to handle it on my own, He fills me with strength to forsake striving in my own flesh. He causes my heart to decide to believe through my desperate clinging to His Spirit for all that I need."
         

for reflection:

how are you struggling this day?

write out how you feel in the struggle.

write out the following questions about your struggle and answer them with scripture.

“What truth do I fail to believe about God?” 
“What truth do I fail to believe about myself?” 
”What truth do I fail to believe about this circumstance?”

Pray:  "Father, help me to look at the crisis as opportunity for You to drive Your truth further into my soul, shaping me and pushing me towards You."

Stress in My Life and the AntiPsalm 23

The Great Causes of Stress in My Life and the AntiPsalm 23

A couple of weeks ago in the midst of studying through Hebrews 4 and the concept of rest I was reminded of a series that I did a few years back called BreakOut. As we concluded that particular series I told you that our lives are a process of Jesus teaching us to live as free people. In order to do that, we have to find our identity in Him, look to Him as ultimate satisfaction, trust in His grace alone as our basis of acceptance, trust Him completely with our future. This is what God was teaching to Israel as He satisfied them with manna in the wilderness

I read this in an article by David Powlison and it touched me very deeply because it touches on all the dysfunctional places in my life that cause me so much stress, pain and worry. Ultimately it boils down to still being enslaved to myself with all of my “blind, misplaced devotion,” and not having found the freedom in knowing Jesus as my sole Master.

Powlison contrasts Psalm 23, which describes what it’s like to be free in Christ, with its ‘antipsalm.’ I found it cripplingly revealing. The antipsalm first:

Antipsalm 23

I’m on my own.
No one looks out for me or protects me.
I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing’s quite right.
I’m always restless. I’m easily frustrated and often disappointed.
It’s a jungle — I feel overwhelmed. It’s a desert — I’m thirsty.
My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can’t fix myself.
I stumble down some dark paths.
Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
But life’s confusing. Why don’t things ever really work out?
I’m haunted by emptiness and futility — shadows of death.
I fear the big hurt and final loss.
Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,
but I’d rather not think about that.
I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
I find no lasting comfort.
I’m alone … facing everything that could hurt me.
Are my friends really friends?
Other people use me for their own ends.
I can’t really trust anyone. No one has my back.
No one is really for me — except me.
And I’m so much all about ME, sometimes it’s sickening.
I belong to no one except myself.
My cup is never quite full enough. I’m left empty.
Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.
Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?
Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
Sartre said, “Hell is other people.”
I have to add, “Hell is also myself.”
It’s a living death,
and then I die.

The Real Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Powlison says, “Can you taste the difference?”

~JD Greear

For Reflection:

Write out Psalm 23 in your journal.

Can you still recite it?  

Pray it each morning this week before you get out of bed.

explicit gospel

is the Gospel explicit in your life?

"Is the gospel assumed in your relationships?  Or is the gospel explicit?  I have been thinking about this distinction for a few days now.  Those who live life under the banner of an assumed gospel simply navigate the waters of life with an underlying foundation that is personal and meaningful.  An assumed gospel often means that a person deeply values the gospel and tries to live life according to the gospel.

The issue with an assumed gospel is that it is often too personal and, therefore, becomes private.  People who live under the assumption for the gospel often know how it relates to their life, but nobody else does.  Their kids never see how the gospel effects decisions, arguments, finances, etc.Their neighbors never hear of the hope within.  Their coworkers are alert to wonder about what makes them different.  Those who live under the assumed gospel often find it awkward to bring it up and talk about the work of Christ.  Why?  Because they never bring it up and learn to articulate the implications of Christ's atoning work and their life.

On the contrary, those who are explicit about the gospel in their relationships have a different effect.  By living out the gospel and speaking about the gospel and working through the gospel(verbally), they are helping to connect the dots for those around them.  Their kids hear how the gospel relates to the family finances or time or relationships or arguments.  Their neighbors hear about the hope within.  Coworkers are privy to the reality that this person is not simply a moral guy or girl, but one who is forgiven and transformed by the death and resurrection of Christ.  

I want to encourage you to begin and, with some of you, continue to make the gospel explicit in your relationships.  Don't  waste life by living an assumed gospel; rather, flesh it out and connect the dots for yourself and those around you.  Talk with your spouse about how Christ's person and work relates to everything.  Pass this on to your kids.  Mention Christ.  Talk about Christ.  Point to Christ.  Relate to Christ.  Oftentimes where the gospel is assumed, it is quickly lost."

Josh Patterson 

(appendix in The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler)

Who Rescued Who?

early a.m.

woke up down, discouraged, purposeless and unmotivated.

know where refreshment is but have trouble even getting to the well to drink.

what will today be like?...unsure...unpredictable

muster up a faint voice to speak to HIM.

where can i go for help?  for rescue... show me...

quiet...no noise...sip coffee...think

pray a little, write a little, read a little

humid outside on the porch, unrefreshing air reminds me of my spirit...seeking, wanting more for this day than what's ahead, blah

YOU send a breath of fresh air in a friend

a friend to visit who feels the same way...

needs rescue, vision and purpose

we speak of our souls, empty and fragile

who will rescue who?

talk continues, still no breeze on the porch

sighs, stares into space

a moment of truth, a reminder comes forth

where does my help come from?

from the MAKER

Oh yeah, we begin to remember...

remember gospel truth - we speak it to one another

iron sharpening iron

there you have it...the well springs forth

a little short psalm, the day begins

damp spirits gone... thankful HE sent a friend

Ephesians 4:25
Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Hebrews 3:13
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (unbelief).

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

This week:

~  Think of a friend or family member who lives out the gospel explicitly rather than assumed. Call them and set up coffee or a meal, or maybe a walk to speak truth to one another. 

~Rejoice and thank God for the gift of community that we so often neglect.

Mention Christ.  Talk about Christ.  

Point to Christ.  Relate to Christ.

“I believe; help my unbelief!”

The Root Of All Sin
Temptation is a false promise–a promise that doesn’t deliver. When we give into temptation, we are believing a lie. In the moment that we’re being tempted to do something, say something, or believe something, there is a deeper temptation happening under the surface. This may come as a surprise to you, but temptation has more to do with belief than it does behavior. Every temptation to sin (going all the way back to the Garden of Eden) is, at it’s root, a temptation to disbelieve the gospel. Gerhard Forde puts it this way:

The sin to be ultimately expelled is our lack of trust, our unbelief.

When we are being tempted, we are being enticed to purchase something we think we need in order to escape the judgement of emptiness. On the surface, the bait might be lust, anger, greed, self-pity, defensiveness, entitlement, revenge, having to win, and so on. But the only reason we take the bait is because we think it will satisfy our deeper hunger for meaning, freedom, validation, respect, empowerment, affection, a sense of identity, worth, and so on.

So, here’s the connection between sinning (the fruit of the problem) and unbelief (the root of the problem): our failure to lay aside the sin that so easily entangles is the direct result of our refusal to believe in the rich provisional resources that are already ours in Christ–we’re not believing that, by virtue of our Spirit-wrought union with Christ, everything we need and long for, we already possess. John Calvin rightly said that, “Christians are in perpetual conflict with their own unbelief.”

This is why when Jesus was asked in John 6:28, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” he answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he sent.” Jesus was making the indisputable point that unbelief is the force that gives birth to all of our bad behavior and every moral failure. It is the root. While the disciples located godliness in something they must do, Jesus pointed them back to himself–the One who came to do for them what they could never do for themselves. “Believe in me.”

In the preface to Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans, he writes:

…only unbelief is called sin by Christ, as he says in John 16, “The Spirit will punish the world because of sin, because it does not believe in me.” Furthermore, before good or bad works happen–which are the good or bad fruits of the heart–there has to be present in the heart either faith or unbelief–the root, sap and chief power of all sin. That is why, in the Scriptures, unbelief is called the head of the serpent which the offspring of the woman (that is, Christ) must crush, as was promised to Adam in Genesis 3.

Believing that “it is finished”, that everything we need in Christ is already ours and therefore we need nothing more, is the hardest thing (so much harder than modifying our behavior) because we are all seasoned “do-it-yourselfers.” Self-salvation engineers (that’s all of us) find it much easier to make a moral “to-do” and “not-to-do” list and try to live by it, then they do trusting, believing, and resting wholly in the work and provision of Another.  “To be convinced in our hearts”, said Luther, “that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing” because “the sin underneath all sins is the lie that we cannot trust the love and grace of Jesus and that we must take matters into our own hands.”

Failing to believe the gospel leads to slavery because now finding peace, joy, meaning, and satisfaction is up to me. I’m on my own. This is why we give into temptation–we’re desperately looking under every rock and behind every tree searching for something to make ourselves happy, something to save us, something to set us free.

The gospel declares that I don’t need to save myself, defend myself, legitimize myself, justify myself, free myself, or in any other way, ensure that the ultimate verdict on my life is pass and not fail. The gospel frees me from the obsessive pressure to avoid the judgement of joylessness, the enslaving demand to find happiness. Walker Percy has described humanity as waiting for news. Christianity announces that the news has come: I’m not on my own. It’s not on me. We all know that “further, better, and more aggressive living” on our part isn’t producing life for us, and so the gospel comes as good news to those who have crashed and burned. What I need and long for most has come from outside of me–from “above the sun”–in the person of Jesus.

Real freedom in “the hour of temptation” happens only when the resources of the gospel smash any sense of need to secure for myself anything beyond what Christ has already secured for me.

Like the father of the boy with the unclean spirit in Mark 9, let us cry out daily, “I believe; help my unbelief!”      

Tullian Tchividjian


For Reflection:


~Pray and ask the Father to show you your unbelief.


~After He has revealed an area to you, write about it and all the emotions you have when thinking about this.
  
~Ask Him to help you believe and write out your position in Christ when you believe the gospel.


Listen to song #4 on the following website.  It is called "When Darkness Falls".  We heard Jenny and Tyler at a concert in Atlanta last year.  This song is from their new album and it reminded me of our gospel journey.  (Sorry I can't give you the usual link to watch on youtube, but its too new and there is no youtube video for it.)  Make sure and listen to the full version of the song and not just the intro.
http://radarradio.net/blog/jenny-tyler-prerelease