Advent---Faith, Are We Talking Religion or Relationship?

[HKHaugan]

The best word definition of faith we have is in the Word, Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (KJV).”  The Message puts it like this; “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.”

 

What we need to say right at the start is that all people have faith because they are created in the image of God.  However, not all people place their faith in God.  People who don’t know God choose to center their faith in something else.  The questions for these people then become what vs.1 says, ‘being sure of what we hope for’ and ‘certain of what we do not see,’(NIRV), that is are you sure and are you certain?’’  And following that what is it that we really hope for and what is it we can’t see?  We could turn those around and ask ‘What are you hoping for and what is it you don’t see of which you are sure and certain?’

 

It’s important we sort out what we hope for.  There are trivial hopes and deep abiding hopes.  We can hope for things, for health, wealth, status and success.  We can hope for loving and caring relationships and personal fulfillment.  Examples: ‘I hope that you understand what I am saying.’ ‘I hope that today is going to make a difference in my attitude, that I will grow closer to God and to those I love.’  ‘I hope that when I die I will be with the Lord and that all my family will be there with me one day.’

 

Faith is a living quality of God as is grace, love, mercy and hope.  They all work together to build our character.  So for us faith precedes all the other qualities of God because without God centered faith as revealed in Jesus Christ these words are limited to the imperfect, therefore unproveable, definitions of imperfect people.  And, without faith in Jesus we have no relationship with God.  We are unable to experience God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

 

What we need to see is the difference between religion and a relationship with God.

 

What man does in his lonely, fearful, enigmatic mind and heart is to create religion.  Religion is basically man’s belief in himself.  Faith in his own ability to save himself from himself.  Religion is man’s attempt to deal with the unknown, the invisible and what he can’t understand.  Religion is his way of handling his imperfections, his need to atone for his inner inconsistencies, guilt and uneven self-worth, his fear of releasing control of the process at the same time.  Religion is an exhausting fruitless enterprise to say the least.

 

A relationship with God on the other hand is a personal revelation from God revealed from outside man.  It recognizes the source of imperfection - sin - and its cure, a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.  It says “Take the faith that is in you and give it to God in Jesus.  His Spirit then strengthens that faith and the source of your frustrating imperfections, that invisible reality called sin, will be forgiven and you will have spiritual life forever with God.’  There is personal repentance on the part of man and personal forgiveness on the part of God in an ongoing growing relationship.  This is where faith is the substance, the essence, the means, the process and the certainty whereby God is perfecting us. 

 

When you ask, “How personal is God anyway?” be ready to look at the way Jesus lived in faith, what He taught in faith and the price He paid in faith to bring that relationship with God back into your heart and mind.  This is why Jesus went to the Cross.  The most important thing to take hold of here is that this doesn’t come from within, from the creative juices in man’s mind, from a play, from a story, myth or legend. This was a revelation to man from outside his drifting mindset, outside his searching within through inductive or deductive reasoning.  God had to reveal himself the way He did because, as God, He knows the only way to bring us back to Him and to one another was through Jesus’ faith becoming a man, His faith dying on the Cross and then through faith being resurrected from the dead.

 

Now when you consider all of this we celebrate Advent with faithful anticipation and excitement.  He‘s returning.  Returning to take us home.