The Triple Crown

[HKHaugan]

Belief, trust and faith are the ‘triple crown’ built into every human being from birth. They are the born-in capacities that make us human beings. Belief for the mind, trust for the heart and faith for the spirit cap the royal garments of character, integrity and maturity. The problem is until we recognize their source we will never realize their potential nor will we ever understand that we are created images of a creative God who are meant to creatively exercise the crown with which we were born.

Let’s use an illustration, a missile sitting on a pad ready for launch. It’s a brilliant concept created to explore the depths of space. By the way, that’s what we were created for as well. But think about that missile. There it is with all its parts each of which are designed to function together. What does it take to make it work, to take off, to achieve that for which it was made? It takes outside persons to ready, fuel and ignite it. Until then it will just sit there, sparkle and unless sparked will eventually deteriorate.

Human beings are no exception. Simply put, we don’t function as designed unless we ignite the fuel that sustains, inspires, energizes and maintains us. We have the engine with all the parts in place. It’s not until we recognize our source is from outside, the One who created us, the One who has given us the manual for life, that we can realize our potential.

We are created to be dependent on our source. Everything in existence is dependent. The interesting thing about the universe is that it is dependent not on what we can see but on what we can’t see. Everything is held together and functions by powers we can’t see. Whether it’s gravity or magnetism or yet to be named forces, they are invisible. Even science, the vaunted evaluator of all things physical, relies on the invisible desire and curiosity to discover what makes everything work. Scientific laws are invisible conclusions based on observation. They are an invisible platform upon which physical matter is used to ‘visibilize’ invisible ideas.

So until we see ourselves as something more than just flesh and blood living a surface adaptation to whatever the local herd mentality happens to be, we never realize the potential that lies within our flesh and blood. It is not what we see but what we can’t see--- attitude, character, integrity, identity, quality, morality, choice, decision, goals and all the invisible dynamics of personal and interpersonal behavior---that shape and drive us. How these come into balance determines whether or not we mature as images of God which is what every human being is, an image of God. That maturation process is either in the hands of God or it is not. It stands to reason (our thinking process) that anything less than God our Creator is a belief detour taking us on a path that inevitably leads us to conclude we are the final judges of what it means to be human (Judgment is an invisible process. Do we qualify?).

History seems to record that no one apart from God has ever gotten it right. Religions have failed because they are man’s conclusions about God and self. They can be divided into two camps. The one believes in intuition, that man can deduce from within what he is and how to live. The other believes in institutions, that man can accept and submit to an already existing structure of thought and practice. Note that both of them start with ‘I’, that belief in self is the final answer.

Only God alone has revealed how to be human by coming Himself in Jesus Christ. Only in Jesus Christ do we see humanity defined, clarified and lived. What we see in Him is belief, trust and faith as a relational, interpersonal and maturing experience leading to relational trust and inter-relational faith with others. But most importantly He is always present as we believe in Him with our minds, as we trust Him in our hearts and follow Him in our spirit. Then He inspires us through faith in Him to open up who He is and who He is in us to others.

Out of this process, how we live, work, create and produce is multiplied through imagination and inspiration because we are lined up with the purposes and design of the Creator. Think of the great material and social advances in Western Civilization that have derived their being from God and His Word.

This is what the ‘triple crown’ is all about. We begin by believing Jesus Christ with our mind. Who He is. Why He came. What He came to do. Then we move into trusting Him day by day. We let Him embrace our heart to produce His attitude in us. Those two call us to use our faith in Jesus toward others that they are encouraged to realize their triple crown and how Jesus energizes it in a relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ mind as revealed in Scripture is God’s pattern for how to think, the pattern for how to trust and the pattern for how to have faith. This is what makes Him the Savior to get us free from the bondage of self-centering sin, the Lord to whom we submit our will and follow and the Redeemer who transforms and matures us through His Spirit. His crown becomes our crown and the most shareable crown of all.