Is it impossible for mankind to please God (or man) without faith? Scripture is quite firm that our connection with God, if it is to be gained, must travel an invisible carrier wave he identifies as faith. At first blush it seems too simple – so simple that we may pass it off as an unworthy route to follow. Then to incorporate its meanings in a book we call The Bible, written by both gifted and ordinary persons, may seem a bit odd. Some believe that God should have given his message in a background of the northern lights, and become famous through pyrotechnics. The modern wailing entertainers become well known, rich, even counselors to the world by streaming words perhaps gesturing wildly – all in the glare of massive electronic lights and stages. (At this writing a staging became so large and heavy, without adequate engineering, so to collapse, killing and injuring both technicians and audience persons.) It all may belong to the need of mankind for large physical expression of aliveness that includes noise, sweat, intensity, laughter, emotion, self-involvement and temporary escape from the negatives of daily life experience. There is a sense that approval is found in mass experience. How can 100,000 persons visiting one program be wrong? Matters of serious life can be lost for a time in the fires of excess – of any kind. So it is that many persons turn to drugs, alcohol, speed, sex – even to brutality sports, and excesses in experiences in this or that context as in religion that sometimes justifies terror in the name of God. Immensity has taken hold.
What has all this to do with the culture of the gentle Jesus? (He drew crowds too, as did Moses and Elijah, with many interested only in seeing miracles. So impressive were events they are remembered after more than 3000 years.) The only risk he asks of us is to find it in the faith and trust we can gain in and with God, so to reflect meaningfully that faith and trust to mankind. When it flows (like an invisible electric current) in life with God, immortality is the reward. When it works with mankind there is love and relationship projected to achieve divine success, health and wisdom. There is measure for us in faith and trust that grows out of righteousness as God defines righteousness which is all that is right for life. Human rights have their origin in righteousness. Mankind sometimes distorts those rights. When followed the context becomes a reflection of the fatherhood of God. Any righteousness in us and society mirrors the holiness of God and his angelic society. If in faith we adopt heaven, heaven adopts us. The Christian then becomes a respectful ambassador to earth, holding dual citizenship. The bridge from here to there is Jesus Christ. Christians are at peace when they know with faith assurance that they trust the affirmations of Jesus Christ for life both here and hereafter. In all this, fear has been addressed effectively. Hebrews 13:6 – I will not fear what man shall do unto me. It all begins effectively with yes to God – in faith believing.
Freedom of the individual is a part of the creation of mankind in the mind of God. The uniqueness of the human being from other creations of God is that by imparting the image of God from his nature, mankind was made to be free – because God is free in his nature. It was a factor in Adam and Eve, but violated. God’s freedom is found in the eternal yes applied to the context of holiness. The secret to its workability rested in a respect for the affirmation(s) of God. To violate the affirmation of God regarding experience of good and evil, as represented in the tree of Eden, freedom was diluted, sometimes smothered, in the choice of evil. Virtue moves forward in a progressive context. Evil engages reverse directions, a denial of the affirmations of freedom. Mankind has tried to balance the opposites with variances in success and failure. The contradictions and paradoxes are many. God will not share his perfect context with anyone who does not choose it. He has a redemptive plan that purges evil ultimately from those choosing to follow the plan in experience. For personal safety, and freedom from fear, the lay person need not enter the lists of theologians and philosophers about life and meaning, but they do need to have faith and trust in God and his affirmations. We will not understand it all, that God’s affirmations in righteousness dispose of the negatives of denials in evil. It is helpful and practical to follow God’s eternal yes for life. Millions of persons have affirmed, in life to death, that affirmation in Jesus Christ. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020