Convenient belief

We live in a world that operates a great deal on "smoke and mirrors". For instance, our banking institutions are discovering that one cannot ignore sound financial principles in business. A false economy was created by cheap and easily available credit. However the lenders should have known that loaning people money that had no ability to repay can not be a sustainable practice. However, instead of operating according to truth, they created an illusion of something in order to justify their continued behavior.

Unfortunately, I find the same kinds of wishful illusions in the church world as well. It never ceases to amaze me how people can declare that they believe in something deeply but when that "deeply held belief" becomes inconvenient, suddenly they no longer hold to that belief. I call it the phenomena of convenient belief.

Convenient belief is never centered on God. The foundation of convenient belief is self (or as I like to put it, the self-god). This kind of belief maybe defended vociferously at times. However the since basis for convenient belief is not built on truth as defined by God but on the preservation of self, it can change quickly. The self-god seeks to self-preserve, self-determine, and self-justify at all costs. Therefore nothing is as important as self.

However, the self-god also desires to hide behind a facade of godliness and goodness. Therefore the self-god will gravitate toward beliefs that benefit self while appearing God-centered. The intensity with which the self-god defends these convenient beliefs is directly tied to the amount of benefit received from defending them. If there is no longer any personal benefit from a particular belief, that belief is quickly discarded.

For instance, we frequently pride ourselves in the fact that we are full of grace toward people. We put ourselves forward as loving people unconditionally. However, when the time comes to put our reputation on the line in the restoration of those who have become lost, we quickly distance ourselves from those people.

On the other hand, belief centered on God, belief that arises from literally and practically following Jesus will always lead to the death of the self-god. While following Jesus transforms and adjusts our belief system, those changes and adjustments are not based on convenience. They occur as a natural part of the transformation that occurs as Christ is formed within us.

Apple pie and the goodness of God

This past week on a cold rainy fall day, I walked into the house. As soon as I approached the kitchen, I could smell that Bev had spent the afternoon engaging in one of her hobbies. The aroma of chicken roasting in the oven filled the room. Something about the aroma made my heart sing.

Several days later I came into the kitchen to the smell of freshly baked apple pie. We were visiting with friends later in the evening and Bev had baked a pie to share with them. When we left, Bev carried the pie to the car. She put her nose toward the pie and inhaled deeply and promptly proclaimed, “I smell the goodness of God!”.

This past weekend we were at our lakefront property in New York to close down the camper and take the docks out for the season. Sunday morning was rather brisk with temperatures in the high teens. Once the sun rose, I cooked breakfast outside and we ate around the fire. Coffee, homefries, bacon, eggs and toast mixed with the smell of wood smoke from the fire and oak leaves on the ground on a crisp morning to create another aroma moment. Everything about that moment pointed to the goodness of God.

The more “God-conscious” I become; the more aware I am of His goodness. The more aware I am of His goodness, the more “God-conscious” I become. I don’t think that God is “any more good” now than in the past. It’s just that I am more aware of it. Neither does the heightened sense of His goodness mean that life is easier than it used to be. I face perhaps more personal struggles than ever. However, the awareness of God’s goodness toward me helps me incredibly in the midst of those struggles.

Last spring, I watched a video for work at our Eastern Sales Meeting. It was done by Dewitt Jones, a photographer for National Geographic. The theme of the video was “Celebrate What’s Right with the World”. At one point he made a profound statement. He spoke of growing up with the philosophy of “I have to see it to believe it”. However, he admitted that philosophy limited him from seeing the potential that really exists. He spoke of a new reality that opened new potential. It was a philosophy of “we need to believe it to see it”.
And so it is with the goodness of God. If we don’t really believe that He is good, we will never see His goodness. We will be stuck in the humdrum of life, missing the aroma of His goodness in apple pies, in wood smoke on a crisp morning, and in the smell of freshly brewed coffee