Have you ever had one of those ‘lightbulb moments’? You know, when a new realization dawns on you? Like a veil has been lifted from your eyes. Like the lights have been turned on and you can actually see now. Ok, enough analogy. This is what my faith journey has been like for the last several years.
I was raised in a home that considered themselves Christians. We believed in Jesus. We went to church, when something else didn’t conflict with it. We prayed together at family gatherings on occasion. But Jesus was never a way of life, just a small part of it. I don’t fault my parents for this. It was infinitely more than what they had as children. But you could imagine, I would have a lot to learn as I got older. Starting back in 2010, that unveiling process began. Over the next 15 years, I would learn more about Jesus and my faith than I ever thought was possible. If anything, this has given me a desire to learn even more, and also to question what I think I know and have been taught. As a teacher myself, these are two things that I try to instill in my students: love learning and question what you learn.
It is natural for many to want to fit in. There are not a lot of ‘earth-shakers’ who seek to question and challenge the status quo. Comfort and acceptance drive a lot of people. These things can even cause some to turn a blind eye to certain possibilities. The possibility that what they’ve been taught and believed for their entire life is wrong, for example. Other than comfort and acceptance, pride is a major obstacle to change. However, we cannot let comfort, acceptance, and pride, drive a willful ignorance, or even create a hostility towards those who choose to question.
I believe the number one criteria for every believer, is humility. It should drive our approach towards God, His word, and towards those around us. The more we admit we don’t know the more we are able to grow. I didn’t mean to rhyme just then. Over the years I have learned that so much of what I was taught has been determined by culture rather than the Bible itself. Nowhere is that more obvious than in certain celebrations.
Here are some questions to ponder. Why would Christians teach their kids that Santa is real when they know it is a lie? Why would Christians put up trees and give their kids presents to honor the birth of the Savior of the world? Why would Christians dye eggs and celebrate a bunny during a time when we are supposed to honor our Passover Lamb, Jesus? Why would Christians dress their kids up in costumes and celebrate a day that revolves around witches, monsters, and death? Why would Christians welcome these cultural distractions when they ultimately lure our kids’ focus away from Jesus?
As believers, our ultimate goal is to abide in Christ…to love Him and make Him known. Santa, trees, presents, candy, costumes, bunnies, dyed eggs, do the exact opposite. As someone who grew up in that, I promise that these things only put our children at the center of their own lives, not Jesus. Colossians 3 teaches that Jesus is our very life. In John 11 Jesus says He is the resurrection and the life. In Galatians 2, it says that we no longer live but it is Christ who lives in us. In John 15, Jesus says to abide in Him.
The hope of every Christian parent should be that their kids will love Jesus with their whole hearts and make Him the Lord of their lives. The hope of every Christian should be to honor Christ and make Him known. For all of us, that takes a sincere and humble approach to examine our traditions and beliefs.
There are many other things I have had to question, that I have been taught in the church, that aren’t in the Bible. Doctrine often gets elevated above the Bible. Many of these doctrines exist because pride has made people claim that their interpretation, or what they learned in Bible college, or what their denomination adheres to, is superior to all others. Much of that too has been informed by culture. The fact is, the Bible is complex. Much of it is meditation literature. As someone I know often says, “it is worth many long walks and cups of tea to contemplate.” And honestly, I think Christians need a whole lot more humility in their approach to God’s word. If the Bible isn’t clear on something, we need to stop claiming it is. There is no room for pride behind the pulpit or conceit among the congregation. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that’s how we should be living our lives.
Peace in Christ brothers and sisters.
For Common Ground 