Positive Faith in Action

The next few days are about finding ways to put positive faith into action. Yesterday we suggested getting started by remembering that every human being is created in the divine image of God. Humanity is precious to God, and inherently reflects his nature (amongst other things of course).

A close corollary of this is to look for the good in others. Yes, this seems simple and trite. But, isn’t it nice when you can tell that someone sees the good in you? I don’t know this for sure, but I’d imagine it helps you relax, feel safe, feel connected, and, perhaps, like you really do belong in this world.

Can we offer that experience to others as part of our call to love our neighbor as ourselves? Can we actively look for, and see, the good in others so that we can affirm them as beloved children of God?

Positive Faith: How do we DO it?

Many traditions approach faith by starting with the negative: humanity is essentially bad unless God intervenes. A great deal of stress is put on the “humanity is essentially bad” part.

Now, I don’t fully disagree. I would just phrase it differently. Here’s a few options. Humanity is not naturally all that it can be. Humanity needs to rely on God in order to find its purpose and to achieve its full potential. We could say it a few different ways. We’re not naturally inclined to do God’s will, or to put his characteristics on display…/and/ God is perfectly happy to give us what we need so that we can get there. This isn’t really a theological difference, it’s a presentation difference.

The presentation matters because we don’t want to shut people down and push them into fight, flight, or freeze mode (aka survival mode). We want people to live as the best, most generous versions of themselves.

How do we do that?

We’ll spend a few days talking about this but I would suggest starting by looking for the good in others. If this whole conversation about positive faith is offensive to you, then think about it like this: Look for the God in others. In other words, look for the characteristics of God that are on display in that person’s life, knowing, believing, and trusting that some aspect of the image of God can be found in that person.

Positive Faith & Sin: Last One

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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 & Sin Part 6 (Roman Numerals suck after V)

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Yesterday we talked about how confrontation does not help us grow into people of God. In fact, confrontation leads to denial. This means that we are less likely to work on the things we might want to work on in order to grow into people of God if we’re confronted.

It’s actually acceptance that leads to growth and change- the very thing God promises and offers. When we are accepted and loved and treated as a part-of, we’re able to confront the discrepancy between who we are and who we’d like to be and start to consider what it would look like in order to make changes.

Acceptance is what allows us to confront ourselves and acceptance paves the pathway for growth. To put it differently- acceptance is the thing that puts us in tune with God’s voice.

So, then, it might be a pretty good idea to be…well…soft on sin.

Positive Faith & Sin Part V

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24, NIV

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Yesterday we talked about the fact that, in faith circles, it’s common to think that it’s really important to be confrontational with people about their sin patterns. We know from research done in the substance use field, however, that being confrontation with people about their foibles is more likely to make people defensive rather than contrite and deferential.

This is important information for pastors (in my opinion) and I think it should shape how we pastor. And, I should say, I wish I had known this when I began my journey as a pastor- I would have been a better one.

What I know belief is that it isn’t confrontation that helps us grow into people of God- it’s acceptance. In this case- I’m talking about the experience of being accepted by others (and by God). Being accepted allows us to feel safe and, when we feel safe, we don’t need to be defensive and we can tolerate conversations about areas where we would like to see growth and change.

This is actually the very logic of Romans 1-3 which people quite frequently get completely backwards. Here’s a rough summary:

• We all fall short of the person we’d like to be

• Therefore we have no right to judge each other

• God accepts all

• Therefore, we shouldn’t condemn each other

This section of scripture is probably responsible for more spiritual abuse than any other (I can think of a couple close competitors but we’re not going for statistical accuracy here). And yet, it’s because we miss the point.

God does accept us as we are. He draws us into his family. He offers us the opportunity to shape our lives in the pattern of his love.

That’s pretty good. And, pretty different from what we often experience.