The Faith Inventory, Results

I have just concluded tabulating my unscientific faith inventory poll.  (see here)  In no way can this poll be considered scientific, nor is this poll typical of anyone but the ones who answered them.  I do not know who answered it,  so I cannot be certain what the answers really mean.  Nevertheless, I found the answers enlightening. 

First some background. I am in the middle of writing a book on  faith called The Faith Matrix.    i designed this inventory to be part of one of the appendices.  My goal is simply to get people thinking about what is most important in their lives. 
The overall definition of "faith" I am using came from  Tillich's concept of faith as one's "ultimate concern."  Belief and faith are different. Belief is what we accept as intellectually true. Faith is what we actually use as a basis for our lives. Often what we believe is the truth and what matters to us are two different things.  Our real faith on which we build out lives is  matters most, what we put above all else,  what gives us the most joy, and what really keeps us going when times are tough.   The goal of this is to help reveal what is  our ultimate concern. I am not at all sure that this test did it. I welcome any and all advice. 

The people who took this test were not typical--mostly my students, my minister and professor friends,  myself and my wife.  Most of them are at least professing and practicing Christians, and  a great many are  professional Christians as well.  Therefor, it comes as no surpse that  "God" figures prominently in their ultimate concern. As one friend told me "I wanted to put something else, but I could tell that the 'right' answer is supposed to be 'God.' So I put it"  I asked people not to think about their answers but to put the first thing that popped into their head s.  I also assured them that this was completely anonymous.  Even so, the self-censoring I believe is probably huge.  
Here are the answers, and what I make of them. 

1. Who would you die for? Most people said that they would die for their faith before anything though one said for their family, and one put "other"  As I tell my classes,  dying for Jesus is relatively easy, though.  Living for Him is a lot harder.
2. Who would forgo comfort for?  All said "God" but this is surprising, and a little hard to believe. We are a people who do not fast, rarely pray,  and seldom tithe, yet we are think that we would most willingly give up candy bars of Jesus told us to.

3. Which of these gives me the most joy and satisfaction in life?  All of the answers were the same "being in a right relationship with God."  Again, I sincerely hope this is so.  But somehow, I doubt it.  This is what we are supposed  to answer, but then why do we have so many other things that distract us from time with God?
4.   Why do I work?  Here the answers started to get interesting.  Two  put "so my family will prosper.  One put "to have money to pursue my interests One put "other" and the rest put, of course, God.   It would make sense that who we work for, who gives us the greatest satisfaction, and who we die for would be the same, but many  of the responders really could not say this.  It may be that most people think of work as something we just endure, that has nothing to do with our true selves,  but it may be that many of us are not sure why we are working.
5. What would you  put first in your introduction?  We got the most diversion from the expected response.   Half put their religion, four put their occupation or their interests, and two put 'other."   It may be that people were thinking of what others thought, here, and that is understandable. What I hoped was that people would put what they wanted people to know most about them.  

As I said,  this is all very unscientific.  But if this is in any way indicative of what a larger group would say,  it may suggest that we are not really as committed to God first as we think we are,  or allow ourselves to express.  If faith is our ultimate concern in life, and if our faith is in God,  then He really ought to be our joy, our motivation, our purpose for living. But saying God is our ultimate, and Him being our ultimate are two different things.  It may be more an expression of the ideal than the real. If the ideal is ever to become real, then we have to know where our hearts really are.

For most of us, having a consistent faith is more of a goal than a destination.  Our out heart (which the Bible calls "deceitful") doesn't  knowing how far from that ideal we actually fall.  My hope is that this little quiz will help help remind us that we need a more consistent, wholehearted faith.  

Later, I'll be posting another quiz to help us see where our faith is strongest.  Hope you will take it.  Meanwhile, I'd love to see some of your thoughts.