A Moralistic Faith
For many, their Christian walk is defined solely by external signs: how they dress, what they say, how often they show up at the church building.
Is it any wonder that we have an epidemic of anxiety, loneliness, and fear in our culture?
Jesus died to restore our relationship with God. He demonstrated the true heart of God: one of love and grace. When we know God, we are invited into a completely different way of life – one saturated in grace that allows us to rest in who He is. We can let go of our moralistic failures, and rest in a God who has already done it all.
Practice: From Fruit to Root
We start first with the kind of fruit that you are seeing in your life. This may be situational, or your life may be dominated by this fruit. You may recognize…
Control, Fear, Anxiety, Worry, Anger, Jealousy
Once you’ve identified the fruit in your life, some follow up questions will lead you deeper.
Who do I believe I am? I should be more successful, but I’m a failure and worthless.
What do I believe God has done/is doing? God refuses to bless me, maybe because he doesn’t really love me, or maybe he doesn’t have control he said he does.
Who then do I believe God is? God is impotent. He’s vengeful. He’s uncaring.
Repentance
This is where we can truly repent of our sins. Too often, we focus only on our behaviours: what we’ve done. The heart of repentance is in recognizing what we truly believe, and aligning ourselves with the truths of who God is.
From Roots to Fruit
The next part is life-giving. You walk through the same questions, but this time starting from Who is God – which we rely on the character of Jesus, and the words of the Bible to guide us.
Who is God? God is loving. He wants to bless the entire world, me included.
What has God done? When I was still lost, God came for me. He loves me and called me his child. God has met all my needs. He takes care of the birds and the animals, and he takes care of me.
Who am I? My worth is not wrapped up in how successful I am, but in how God looks at me. I am accepted and loved. I don’t need to prove myself, because God has already given me grace.
The fruit that comes from this process is describe in Galatians 5:22-23. As you practice these questions, you’ll find a true freedom in God. This is the easy yoke Jesus talked about. It will become easier to walk others through this as well, opening up all kinds of new spiritual conversations.