God Faith

  I am no fan of theologian Paul Tillich.  However, there was one thing he said I liked.  “Faith” he said, “is the ultimate.” 

Faith really is the ultimate. It is the ultimate--

--Authority for our life

--Source of our joy

--Meaning of our existence

--Reason for everything

--Goal of all we do

--Hope for the future.

While everyone has a kind of faith, the Christian faith is truly unique.

At its heart is a living God, who we know through Jesus. Our faith is in a relationship not  an idea. 

Even so, the faith of Christians is often not what it is supposed to be.  When this happens, then it is usually one of three problems.

1.       Misplaced faith—when we think we have faith in one thing, but really have faith in something else.

2.       Mixed faith—When we try to look to God for heaven, but to other things for security love,  or purpose on earth.  We can’t follow God and Mammon.  We can’t follow God and TV, either.

3.       Mini-faith—This is childish, not childlike faith. Grown up faith is needed for grown-up problems. 

Our real faith is what we put before everything.  It is not something we just die for. It is what we live for every day.

What do we live for?  Lots of things.  In general, though, the ultimate  purpose of people may be divided into three general kinds:

1.  Self faith.  Self faith is faith when we are our own purpose for life.

Self faith is not necessarily selfish. It does motivate some to help others, purely from their own ego.  “I am a good person, so I must do good things.”  

It can also motivate us to honor God It can motivate us to support our families.  It does all this, though out of a concern of how we look, how we are perceived, and how long our legacy may go on. Ultimately, it still goes back to who we are.  

When we put ourselves first, we may want God and others to be on our side, but not necessarily us on their side.

2. Community faith sees the value of a community to which we belong as being most important.  This is a generous, patriotic, and involved faith, but not necessarily a godly one.  The community we serve may be as large as all mankind or as small one or two people. Whatever we define as our community is most important.    

Community faith can have some serious problems. When a community is valued under God, then serving it may be good, but when our community is put over God, then community can become a monster. Hitler was a patriot.  Mafia bosses value their families.  Gangs value their friends. A racist values his race.  Penn State officials covered up terrible crimes for what they perceived as the “good”  of their college.  Patriotism or family, when valued over God, has resulted in more evil in the world than ever could be accomplished by selfishly evil people.  

3.  God faith.  God faith is in a creating and sustaining God. God faith looks to Him for happiness and fulfillment. All that we are or ever will be is to His Glory.

What is our real faith?  

We really ought to be sure. Having the wrong faith can be disastrous, both for ourselves, and for everyone around us.