Fake Christianity

Chapter 2 - Beliefs

“I would recommend that you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.” C.H. Spurgeon

What we believe is important. It shapes our thinking, feelings, and actions. It motivates us to do things we would not normally do. It comforts the soul in times of trouble. Our beliefs do much more than this as well, so why do we as Christians live at times as if what we believe is not really that important?
I hear the cries now of, “Wait, what are you talking about? I believe in God and I believe in Jesus Christ as my savior. Isn't that enough?”
Can I say yes and no?
The fact that you believe in the one true Living God of the Bible, and that his Son is the only Savior of the world is the most important belief you need to have. But, to think that belief is the only belief that needs to be engraved on your heart, soul, and mind for a genuine and authentic Christian life to flourish is just not right.
How will you get through life-shattering moments such as; the death of a family member or special loved one, personal injuries that change everything, and other tragic moments that leave us dumbfounded, crushed, or broken? Where and what will you draw from to build a firm and steadfast faith?
It will take a belief system that can stand in these times, and leave us with hope and assurance even when we don't understand everything.
There are going to be some beliefs listed next, like there were lies in the first chapter. I want to emphasize that this is not an exhaustive list of beliefs we need to have as Christians. There are probably many more we need to get inside our Christian belief system. Also, it is doubtless in my mind that there are many more highly educated individuals that could write on this subject (and on all the topics covered in this book for that matter) more extensively and more clearly than I can. These beliefs are just ones that God has impressed upon me to share with you.

1.God is in control.

He is in control, and He knows what He is doing. Our intelligence does not even compare next to His, so quit trying to figure out everything that is going on! Just have faith and follow Him.
We need to be able to rest in the fact that He is in control, and quit trying to wrest control back from Him. When we give God control of our lives it takes a burden off of us. It will reduce our stress level. We might be able to start worrying about new things when He starts to reveal His plan for our lives, but He doesn't want us to worry. Just know that He is in control.
What breaks my heart is looking around at Christianity in general and seeing that no one wants to give Him control. There is a diseased thinking that says we can be in control of our own lives, follow our own desires and plans for this fragile life, and that God is okay with it.
Because, after all, why would God want me to do something that sounds crazy? Why would God give me desires to do something other than what He would really want me to do?
I will answer that with another question; Are those desires you speak of really from God? If they are desires that are only fueled by wanting to make lots of money, I would beg you to consider that they are not from God.
Are those desires fueled by just doing what makes you happy? I would beg you to let God decide what makes you happy.
Are those desires fueled by what you are good at? I would beg you to listen to God and see what He wants you to do with your life, instead of listening to a sin-filled world with sin-filled minds telling you what your sin-filled heart wants to listen to.
As an American Christian I live in a culture that is Me-first. Everything is focused on the individual. We see commercials around the clock about how to make your life better by buying certain things. We are pressured to, “Rock the Vote” because our vote matters. ME, ME, ME, and I, I, I permeate our thinking to the point where we lose sight of how to function as part of a whole. We lose our ability to function in relationships, because it is all about me. And yet we wonder why the divorce rate is so high. We cannot function as part of the body of Christ because we want either to be the whole body, or we want to pick which body part we are going to be. As a genuine Christian the Me-first belief system has to die.
When God is in control, we are His servant! When He is our Lord and King, we are supposed to be His loyal, faithful, and obedient subject. If He is in control, we don't have a say in what we do in this life or get a vote; we do what He wants us to do. As Christians we need to kill the belief that we can be in control of our lives when in the words of Jesus, found in Mark 8:34, state “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”