How To Hit A Triple

[HKHaugan]

Belief, Trust, Faith

There is a never ending supply of personal support from the Word of God. When you are open to letting it speak there is always something new and fresh. That is one of the beauties of its impression. The many times you hear it used in study and worship it seems there is always something new and special the Holy Spirit has for each of us. But there is a whole lot more if we are open to letting it work to achieve God’s purpose for us.

There are three ways to approach Scripture, belief, trust and faith.

First, belief that it is the Word of God. Yes, it was written by men from a broad spectrum over centuries in time. But, it is the common themes that different men in different ages, sometimes far apart, embrace that ring a note of authenticity. Prophecies, stories, songs, history and contrasting personalities, blend into one significant idea, the coming of a singular figure who by divine will and energy emerges to be the one person to bring meaning, significance and purpose to a confused and divided mankind. Its sub themes support the central theme. Only a God with one mind could engineer such a set of documents claiming truth that could touch the heart and spirit as well as the mind. He uses 100% of the human mind to present 100% of His mind. Is it any wonder that its central figure, Jesus, would pray to His Father and ask “Father, sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth (Jn.17:17)?”

Second, trust in being inspired because it is the Word of God. Trust is a heart adventure. Ultimately in all individual lives it is the heart that trusts. Trusting is more than an intellectual exercise. The heart is where we conclude what the mind considers. Trust is what Jesus called His disciples to do in Him. If they really trusted in God then they would trust Him with their hearts as well. It solidifies the fact that He is the Son of God. If you trust the Father then you trust His Son as well. Only a God with a loving heart could open His heart to share His mind trusting that His images could not only be inspired but also respond in like heart. Jesus demonstrated trust in His Father even when it meant His death. His heart was in His Father and His Father’s heart in Him. Later the disciples will find that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are Three in One and One in Three. “Trust in God, trust also in me (Jn.14:1).”

Third, stepping out in faith applying the insights the Word of God provides. Faith is a movement of the Holy Spirit working in our spirit. Faith is the energy of the Spirit moving us out from the heart into action. This is what ministry and mission are all about. It is faith that carried Jesus through His life and the Cross. It is faith that carried Him into every next moment as His mission unfolded before Him. It is faith that enabled Him to be resurrected. It is faith that justifies us every time we step out in belief and trust. We can believe in our minds and even come to trust in our hearts what we believe for our personal satisfaction, but it is not until we step out in faith that we find what our life is really all about. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen (Heb.11:1).”

Jesus is the perfect balance of the mind, heart and spirit in action. As you read the Word of God you will find that that balance is what He intends for us to experience in a relationship with His Son. It is the Word of God that is our ‘balance manual.’ Because of sin we have been thrown out of balance. Jesus came to bring us back into balance by giving us Himself as the focus to think, feel and sense. Let’s look at each of them.

First, consider belief. Believing is a mind experience. Believing in the ideas He presents, pondering them, reasoning about them and making some conclusion regarding them. John says this about God’s Word, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name (Jn.20:31).” The Word of God is the wrestling mat where the sinful mind can find its challenge and begin the journey toward logic and order. It is where we shape our worldview, how we fit into the world we live in, the people we meet and our meaning and purpose that transcend the visible. Jesus’ mind is a believing mind.

Second, consider trust. Trusting is a heart experience. The heart is who we are in terms of our will. The heart is where we process ideas and beliefs. It’s where we shape who and what we want to be. It’s there we make our choices ‘to be or not to be.’ It’s the fountain from which our attitudes emerge, what we really feel and what we really want. We may believe all the ideas about God but is our heart in them? Do we trust what we believe? We may have a quantity of beliefs but their quality only emerges through trust. Heart quality is a ‘Jesus thing.’ It’s not until our heart becomes like His heart that we find the completion it seeks. Every heart is a heart looking for a home and that home is a relationship with Him. He has identified Himself as the light of the world (Jn.8:12) and then says this in John 12:36, “Put your trust in the light while you have it so that you may become sons of light.” Jesus’ heart is a trusting heart.

Third, consider faith. Faith is a spirit experience. It’s the third step in the recovery of the whole person. What sin had reaped in separating the human mind, heart and spirit from God the Father was restored by the mind, heart and Spirit of Jesus. He not only trusted His Father He had faith in Him, faith that His Father would not desert Him or leave Him alone wherever He went and no matter what He did even if it meant death. He knew His Father’s will. He believed it, trusted it and His life was a life of faith, stepping out into a hostile world because that was His belief and trust in His Fathers’ will for Him. Jesus found His sinless mind in His Father’s Word. He found His sinless heart in His Father’s Word. He found His sinless Spirit in His Father’s Word. What He found He gave to us. He limited Himself to live as a human being by belief, trust and faith and die for us the same way --- for each of us personally --- so that when we look at where we are and see the disarray within and without, we too can be brought into an active role in helping others to their recovery while we go through ours. That’s our calling and the calling of all who receive Him. Jesus’ Spirit is a faithful Spirit.

So try it, ‘it’ being the balance transaction, the exchange of sin for Jesus, His mind, heart and Spirit for yours. Test, examine and weigh yourself to see where you’re out of balance. Are you heavy on belief but light on trust, heavy on trust but light on faith? Are you heavy on worship but light on interpersonal sharing, heavy on careful choice of friends but light on risking yourself with strangers, heavy on being right but light on accepting others who are a bit different, heavy on reading the Word but light on acting it out? It’s part of taking up our cross as we follow Him.