So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. – Genesis 1:27

There is nothing new under the sun. From the earliest recorded stories, humanity has wrestled with demons of control and believing that we know what is best for ourselves. The damage it has done continues to reverberate through the chasms of culture today, echoing through the ears of individuals and shaking their very core.

We live in an epidemic of loneliness. Anxiety, depression, worry are all constant companions of far too many. The spectres of these ghosts hang heavy over every generation and threaten to drag too many down. Recent research has suggested that those under 30 are less happy than the older generations.

The Church seems ill equipped to meet people where they are in this shifting landscape. We throw bigger events, seek to be more culturally relevant, and even organize outreach events to get in people’s spaces to tell them that Jesus loves them (which he most certainly does!). Yet we’ve seen the steady decline of religious belief in Canada march onward for decades now.

A Question of Belief

Perhaps it is time to ask whether we are asking the right questions. Having a conversation with a well meaning individual who professes faith in God will lead in many interesting directions. Namely, that the god they believe in is a faint shadow of the God embodied in Jesus. More often, individuals believe in a god who is a saintly character, looking down upon them with benevolent love, and who wants the best for them. This simple belief gets synchronized with the all powerful god, essentially turning their god into a cosmic genie. Rub the lamp the right way, and you get what you desire.

Is it any wonder that we are seeing people walk away from the Church, and from the god they believe in? The dominant narrative is one of fear, anger, and chaos. The environment is threatening to smother us all, western politics have devolved into a rancorous game of mud slinging where little gets accomplished, families are falling apart, individuals are struggling to get food on the table, and that is just to start.

What do people hear when we say, “Jesus loves you”?

Reading through the Gospels is a case study in action. Everywhere Jesus went, he proclaimed the arrival of the Kingdom of God. When John’s disciples came to Jesus to ask if he was the Messiah, Jesus didn’t respond with an esoteric speech, he said to them, “‘Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.’ And he added, ‘God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.’” (Matthew 11:4-6)

Jesus went first to the tangible. How often did he do this with individuals as well? He met their needs, then he presented a new way of life. “Get up and walk,” then “Go and sin no more.” “Who touched me?” into a crowd, then “Daughter, your faith has healed you.”

I’m suggesting that for the vast majority of people, they don’t believe they are even worthy of love. Their hearts are not capable of accepting that God loves them, because they cannot fathom a world where anyone loves them. So they plod through life, trying to keep their head down and survive.

A Gospel Identity

But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. -Galatians 2:17-21

Paul is writing to a church that is going through a messy struggle. They’ve forgotten that the grace of God is enough for them, and gone back to trying to earn His favour. They believe that they can make God fulfill His part of the bargain by earning their part.

Sound familiar?

It’s the same lie that Adam and Eve succumbed to in the garden. It’s the same lie that tells people if they work hard enough, put enough positivity out into the world, if they just find that one person who will love them – they will be enough.

The Gospel identity, and the Good News is that we are given a new identity through Jesus. You are no longer an orphan, abandoned and alone – you are a child of God. Full rights, full access. You are no longer a beggar on the streets, rejected and forgotten – you are invited to the King’s banquet. An honoured guest of the Most High.

Live the Gospel

The defiant hope of the Gospel remembers that our human eyes are so frail. Our faith may fail, and our strength may give out – but God is our Rock. It allows us to enter into spaces with others that are deeply vulnerable, difficult, and sometimes even dangerous, without fear. To hold that space with them and point them towards an identity that God is inviting them into – where they are not abandoned, forgotten, or worthless. They are adored, adopted children.

It takes a change in our own hearts. From judging and discarding others, to faithfully walking alongside them; from expecting others to change, to loving them as they are; from dehumanizing others with us vs. them language, to seeing everyone with compassion and empathy.

Then, we can enter into the hurting spaces with the eyes and heart of God, putting out the flames, inviting honesty, pursuing healing, building up the broken, and announcing the Kingdom of God.

That’s a kind of religion I can believe in.

What changes for you?