Closing Thoughts on Positive Faith

In closing out this series on positive faith- here’s what I might like you to takeaway, if I had my druthers. (If you haven’t read the series visit: northstarcommunity.com/devotionals to see what I’m on about).

Faith doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) about:

-Living in shame

-Viewing yourself as bad, wrong, or evil

-Avoiding “bad” behaviors

-Blaming ourselves or others for suffering

Faith can be about:

-A God who comforts, loves, protects, and provides

-Building each other up

-Encouraging each other

-Looking for the good in each other

-Growing as a result of these

Faith and, and should be, a sense of connection to God, our neighbor, ourselves, and even creation itself. This connection provides a sense of peace about our place in the world- as well as a source of joy and hope. Faith encourages us to continue to look life directly in the face, even when it’s difficult, and to refuse to back down. Not because we’re strong or macho, but because we believe God will give us what we need to get from one moment to the next, and because we believe that surviving is the ultimate display of faith in action.

God has designed each of us. You have gifts, and strengths. You have something to offer. Too often faith communities have asked us to ignore, or even suppress, these things because of some wrong-headed notion that it might somehow take attention away from God.

I say no. The things that make you unique only point to beauty and depth of God’s creativity. So, please, if you can, embrace everything that makes you you. I kinda think that’s what God wants.

Ask Clarifying Questions

If you are just seeing this post after missing a few, we’re on a mini-series on how to have positive faith- faith that is encouraging and upbuilding and not based on shame, guilt, and the like. Specifically over the past few days we’re talking about skills that help us live this out.

Today is going to be a short post- because this is something you’ve heard us talk about many times if you’ve been at NSC for any length of time.

So here goes. If and when you don’t understand something that someone is telling you, try asking some clarifying questions. Our conflict in life, all too often, is the product of miscommunication. One of the ways around this is to ask questions rather than to immediately respond.

Slow down. Hear the other person out. Ask questions if you feel yourself getting agitated. For example, “What I’m hearing in all this is ______, is that what you’re wanting me to hear?” This gives the other person the opportunity to, you guessed it, clarify.

This alone will go a long way towards having better conflict and having better conflict will undoubtedly support your move towards living faith in a more positive way.

Positive Faith & Sin: Last One

If you’re behind on these posts, click here to visit the whole blog so you can get caught up. Otherwise you might get lost. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?

This conversation on how we talk about sin as people of faith comes down to this (for me): Are we creating more faithful people?

If the way we talk about sin and separation from God isn’t creating more faithful followers of God then we’re doing something wrong. Again, just my opinion.

I personally believe that if you beat people over the head with their “sinfulness” then they get defensive, feel ashamed, and enter survival mode (not in a good way). This isn’t helping people grow and blossom into people defined by their love, mercy, forgiveness, charity, and whatever else. It’s keeping people paralyzed by fear. And, largely, this is because people’s inability to live as who they’d like to be is not new information for them.

We do not need to slam people in the face with things they already know (and are ashamed of).

So, what do we do?

Positive Faith and Sin Part IV

If you’re behind on these posts, click here to visit the whole blog so you can get caught up. Otherwise you might get lost. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?

My experience as a listener suggests that most people are painfully aware that they are not entirely the person they’d like to be (aka, they’re painfully aware of their own sinfulness).

So, given that, what do you think might happen if I see it as my job to make people even more aware of the things that already cause them great pain?

What kind of pastor would I be if I treated you all as if you were dogs that needed to have your nose rubbed in your own pee so you’d stop wetting the rug?

Right- it would not be a good situation. Some people would respond to that by trying to over perform. Some would respond by withdrawing. Some would feel uncomfortable but think to themselves, “Well, this must be how it is.”

In the end, none of these is growing into a more faithful human being.

Positive Faith and Sin

The dreaded “s” word. I can remember being in seminary and having conversations with others about wanting to present faith in a more positive light- only to have them quickly dismiss it and accuse me of being “soft” on sin. Being “soft” on sin was their way of saying, “You’re not taking it seriously enough.”

Now, I would say I take it very seriously. I would also say most people I know take their own sin very seriously. I do not believe the problem, when talking about positive faith and sin, is an issue of seriousness. I believe it’s an issue of what’s the most *helpful* way to address sin that actually *helps* people live out their certain way of seeing. Yes, I used the word help twice in one sentence, and this is because I believe how we handle sin in community is a matter of helpfulness.

What is going to produce lives that more fully reflect God’s love?

I’ve got plenty to say on the topic but, in short, I’ll say this: I don’t believe shame and condemnation brings the best out of people. When we don’t bring the best out of people, we’re unlikely to see people at their best (obvious). When we don’t see people at their best, we’re unlikely to see the depths of God’s love that they have to offer the world around them. And that’s what I’m interested in seeing: God’s love springing forth in each of your lives, radically and uncontrollably.