If you are a Christian, there are undoubtedly times when you actually wonder if you are, in fact, a Christian. There are times when you really struggle with assurance of your salvation. Lingering sin in your life causes you to seriously consider whether your faith is genuine; whether you love Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
When these considerations plague us, we tend to search diligently for evidence of salvation. We look for reasons to believe we are believers. We want so badly to "confirm our calling and election" (2Pet 1:10).
One of my concerns is that we look to less-than-valid evidences for confirmation. I fear we are more rationalistic than is helpful. I fear we have only modified the Cartesian creed under Christian pretense. Instead of saying, "I think, therefore I am," we say, "I think Christian, therefore I am Christian." Thus, to make our calling and election sure, we try to identify and develop certain [Christian] thoughts or intellectual practices in our life as evidence for our belief.
But there is a huge problem with this. Intellectual alignment with orthodoxy is not the best evidence for faith since it can be found in those who have no faith at all (cf. Matt 7:21). More than this, in the Christian life loving is more important than thinking. The heart is primary, while the mind is secondary. Please note that I did not say that thinking is not important; but that it is not primary.
Consider our own experience. How many times do we know what is right, but fail to love what is right? How many times does our heart contradict our mind? It is during these times we struggle with assurance the most. It is during these times when we know our mind isn't enough. And it is during these times when we despair of all our efforts to strengthen our intellect because it just doesn't work.
We look at the book about sexual addiction and shake our heads. We turn from our spouse in an argument only to find Keller's new book on marriage on the bed-side table. We read em both. What happened?!
This is what happened: Our minds, no matter how learned, have failed (again) to change our hearts.
I am thankful that the Scriptures steer us away from this sort of [Christian] rationalism. In them we learn that Christ directs his initial efforts at the human heart, from which his Spirit produces fruit in us (Ezek 36). It is this fruit that lets us know we are his disciples.
Consider (among many passages) John 15:2, 8, "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does ear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit...By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
If these verses are true, we ought to be looking for fruit of the Spirit in our lives for proof that we are his disciples. All the knowledge in the world is useless if it is without love. We can memorize the catechism, but should we fail to see joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, etc., in our lives, we should have no assurance at all that we are in Christ.
And this is good news. When we see the Spirit work patience in us, we see change in the most significant place - in the heart. When we freely and joyfully forgive someone, we experience a satisfaction that surpasses our understanding, but that invades every part of our being. Sometimes our minds have to catch up to what we feel. Sometimes we have to really consider where the fruit came from because it certainly didn't come from our own intellectual efforts.
It's time to put the books down, at least for a moment, and consider our own foolishness in thinking that we can think our way to Christ. The feeling we get when we learn something new is not necessarily faith. The Spirit gives us something more sure. He produces fruit within us - especially when we are fools - to let us know he is there, that he loves us, and that he has saved us.
And, might I add, this should inflame our evangelistic efforts. For too long we have burdened the subjects of our proclamation with an extrabiblical rule - that they must become as learned as we in order to be saved. Destroying the stronghold of Christian rationalism frees us all from such tyranny. And it liberates, even the most unlearned "whosoever" to simply confess and believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation.
The problem you identify is true enough, but is it so much that we look to "[Christian] rationalism" for assurance? It seems that it is more of (in Reformed circles, anyway) a reaction against blatant anti-intellectualism. It can be a sort of anti-anti-intellectualism, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I do not like the "heart vs. head" dichotomy that exists today. It disturbs me.