Renovation of Faith
A Shift in Posture to Life with God
What is the goal of our faith?
This is the question I have had reverberating in my mind for the last several years, as the realities of motherhood, COVID-related isolation, relational difficulties, and so much more life has removed the “answers” I thought I had to this question.
In the early years of my faith I would have answered, “To seek and save the lost.” What this practically looked like in my mind was being as “righteous” as I could muster so that the broken people all around me would see how whole I was and come into the right relationship with God. Of course, church activities like Bible studies, Sunday worship, ministry-related fun events, and outreach efforts were all included in the “being righteous” part.
It still makes me cringe to read that–admitting out loud what was the undercurrent of my faith for so long.
But, by God’s grace, in motherhood I reached a level of sleep deprivation and physical daily difficulty that removed my ability to muster a sufficient level of righteousness. COVID meant we couldn’t go to church, or fellowship in the ways we were always used to. Relational difficulties removed my external validation hedging that I had secured in the church, always referencing my own spirituality by being affirmed by those around me.
So, the question, What is the goal of our faith?, found enough air to come bursting out from deep within me, shattering the remainder of the pat-answers I had covered it up with.
When we wrestle with this question, it can feel a bit disorienting–resulting in a release of things we’ve clung so tightly to as part of our Christian identity. Major life shifts often do this, forcing us to re-evaluate and renovate our internal world to find God living and active in the new realities of our life.
When you can’t go to church, or read your Bible for hours on end, or find reconciliation in that difficult relationship, or find a job that fulfills you, or get pregnant, or stop yelling at your kids–are you still a Christian? Are you still in right relationship with God? Is there something inherently sinful and broken about you (or someone else) that’s blocking you from living the “life to the full” promised by Jesus himself? Are you living into the goal of your faith?
I can’t answer those questions for you. Not directly, at least. But, I can point us all back to the beginning of the Bible to see what wisdom we can glean from the creation story.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upin the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” Genesis 1:26-28; 31a
In the midst of all things created in the first chapter of the Biblical narrative, the writer makes one thing clear: there is something unique and special about God’s relationship with humankind. Though God himself is our creator, he set before us a vocation to be fruitful and multiply, to rule over and subdue the earth around us. In other words–take this creation and work with me to make it great.
Now, most of us know that the rest of the story is a beautiful and tragic narrative about humankind rejecting this partnership with God–desiring instead to go our own way–and God relentlessly pursuing them to restore the fellowship of Eden. As Adam and Eve are leaving the Garden of Eden after their initial sinful offense, we see God clothing them. He urges Cain to look toward him in his moment of temptation. He rescues the family of Abraham from slavery in Egypt, establishes a tabernacle and later a temple to continue in fellowship with them throughout their disobedience, calls them back to faithfulness through prophet after prophet urging them to return to His presence.
Last winter, a new children’s book was released with the purpose of providing a visually captivating overview of the Biblical narrative. The book, The Story of God with Us by Kenneth Padgett and Shay Gregorie, is repetitive in showing the pattern of our relational God and culminating in the beautiful truth of the resurrection and current vocation of God’s people. In it, there is a phrase repeated to describe God’s actions in every response to man’s sinful rebellion:
“So he could dwell with us, and we with Him; always and forever, world without end.”
This, I think, has been the foundational shift in my spiritual renovation journey so far. Instead of, as before, thinking of spiritual growth and maturity about “arriving” at some acceptable level of Christlikeness with the goal of producing fruit in the form of more people becoming Christians, I now am moving toward a life that is lived with God and allowing the resulting intimacy to be the holy ground from which my spiritual formation occurs.
Ironically, it seems that at every turn my walk with God looks similar on the outside–in that I find that the spiritual practices I was taught in the early days of my walk with God are in fact significant enough to continue doing.
However, the posture in which I do them is shifting. Instead of reading my Bible, going to church, or praying simply because it’s the right thing to do, I find that doing them with the purpose of walking with God into His kingdom values and lifestyle has done more to spur true and lasting spiritual formation than I’ve previously experienced.
I’m curious to know how this perspective shift lands for you. Is this elementary for you? Eye opening? Strange? Dangerous? Let me know in the comments!
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the concept of living life with God, here are a few resources I really recommend:
Books:
Practicing the Presence of God
Podcasts:
Embodied Faith Podcast, Episode 002: The Making of a Mature Disciple with Jim Wilder
Bible Study:
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