A Reasonable Faith

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)

Here is a great question that every Christian should be able to answer: Is Christianity a reasonable faith? Or is trusting in Christ’s atoning death on our behalf a blind faith? What is your answer? Let’s take a brief look at this and be both comforted and challenged today.

The English philosopher Francis Bacon correctly observed that God has given us two books as sources of truth: the book of God’s works (creation) and the book of God’s Word (the Bible). Within the pages of the Bible we see the inspired importance of the pathway to reason as we pursue truth for ourselves and for others.

“‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18). We are not called to a blind leap of faith, but to a rational, reasonable faith. For the person who is willing to look through clear, objective lenses, God has revealed Himself in every aspect of creation. And if that person is willing to look through those same clear, objective lenses, God has revealed Himself on every page of the Bible. And within those inspired, inerrant, infallible pages of sacred Scripture, we find God exhorting us to study both of these books:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

(2 Timothy 2:15).

Today’s verse reminds us to be thinking Christians. We are to love God with every fiber of our being, including our mind. Sadly, for many who profess the name of Christ, their minds have not been transformed through the consistent and diligent study of Scripture. They hold to the same basic worldview they had before becoming Christians.

But this is not for you! Make no mistake, the proper use of reason is essential if we are going to share the truths of the Gospel in ways that connect deeply with unbelievers, and this will only happen when the mind is renewed. The single most important key to renewing the mind is knowledge. We read this promise from our Lord: “‘This is the covenant I will make with them after that time,’ says the Lord. ‘I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds’” (Hebrews 10:16).

As A. W. Tozer said so well, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Our love for God grows as our knowledge of Him grows. The more we grow in our understanding of God, the more our heart beats for Him. The more time we spend in God’s Word, the more the living and active Word of God will be in us!

Remember, the Bible makes it clear that faith in God is built upon substance, rooted in real evidence. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). Our faith is indeed a “reasonable” faith that, while renewing the mind, also the recalibrates heart and realigns the will. Let that truth comfort and challenge you to pursue God’s call in your life, regardless of the cost or circumstance. This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!