"The longest journey you will ever have to take is the 18 inches from your head to your heart."
Andrew Bennett
I am a Christian (but only when it is convenient)
A simple statement. Easy to say. One that, in most secular cultures puts you in the minority. A statement which, if truly meant, should be the most defining thing about you. Should... But really, it has become on par with saying something like purple is my favourite colour or I have a dog as a pet. It's a statement about something in your life, but it is not the most important thing in your life. It has no impact on how you live.
You grew up in a Christian home. You went to Sunday school and you know the stories of Noah and Jonah and David. You know Jesus is the Son of God who died on a cross and why we celebrate Christmas and Easter. If people ask if you believe in God, you say yes. You know you should read (or at least own) the Bible. And sometimes when life is a bit difficult you like to say your bedtime prayers. But you don't really understand why sex outside of the marriage covenant is wrong. And why LGBTQ+ friends can't be free to live how they choose to. Why we can't adjust some of the views that seem so outdated. You like to believe that God is a God of love, not wrath. And because somewhere in your life you learnt about Jesus you're not too concerned about heaven or hell. You believe, it doesn't really matter how you live. A God of love and forgiveness will bless you to receive heaven, because you knew of Him and tried to be a good person.
We have forgotten that God is holy
God cannot look upon sin. He abhors it. It is so contrary to His nature that He pours out wrath on it. Why? Sin destroys, breaks down, damages, and tears apart all that God has created for good. It kills His creation and the people He created in His image. It completely separates us from our Creator. We are dead in our trespasses, slaves to sin, lovers of evil, haters of God. Nothing in us is good. Nothing. There was a price to be paid for the wreck that we had caused, we were awaiting our judgement. And the jury was not going to vote in our favour. The verdict would have been guilty.
But in His loving-kindness, God, who is slow to anger, poured out His mercy and grace on undeserving sinners, because the price was paid by someone else. The wrath was borne by an innocent Lamb. Christ was crucified so that undeserving sinners could receive life. That is the gospel. In and of yourself you have nothing, in Christ you have life and life in abundance. God made a way for sinners. He does love His creation. But He remains holy, and anyone who has not called on the name of the Lord will not be saved on the day of judgement. That is why we need to search our hearts, ponder the truth of our salvation.
If you can freely continue living a life of sin, with no guilt, with no thought as to what Christ endured because of your sin. Then you do not love the God you claim to live for. Saving faith will always lead to a changed life. Why? Because if we love God, we would want to keep His commandments. We would want to make much of Him with all of our lives. We will spend eternity worshipping God. If you have no desire to do that now, why would heaven change that?
Consider Saul, the persecutor of Christians, the most religious of Jews, who encounters the resurrected Lord on a road to Damascus and becomes Paul, imprisoned for his faith, writer of most of the New Testament. It is impossible to encounter the living God in a real way and to carry on living a life that is opposed to His ways. (Acts 9)
There is a dangerous extreme
Legalism. Knowing a lot of theology, having the ability to quote Scripture, being able to concisely form arguments for certain doctrines, knowing that we should be pursuing lives of holiness. Pridefully telling people about it, following the rules. Doing the right things, but hiding the sin. Hiding the struggles with temptation. Falling into worldly passions too easily. You know the truth of Christ in depth, the theology of the cross, the scars of the nails and the salvation and redemption it brings. You can argue it out. You've read enough of the theologians.
But you live a life that is devoid of love for Christ. And because you don't love Him. Because you do not rely on the Spirit to give you strength to live out your faith, but rather rely on yourself, you fail. You cannot keep up the facade. You judge others for failing, because secretly you despise the fact that they know less than you, but their lives are more holy and God-glorifying than yours.
Pure knowledge will not save you. There is a point where reason and logic stops. Where a faith gap is formed. Where our theodicies fall short and God is infinitely higher than we can imagine. We need reasons for our hearts to believe. Timothy Keller in his book Walking with God through Pain and Suffering states, "A 'reason for the heart', unlike an abstract proposition, affects and changes attitudes and actions." Elsewhere Keller also comments, "Religion says, I obey, therefore I am accepted. Christianity says, I'm accepted therefore I obey."
It is not enough for us to have head knowledge alone, we need heart knowledge. Profound, life-altering, heart of stone into heart of flesh type of knowledge. Head knowledge is enough to conform our lives to a legalistic, tick-box religion. A religion that speaks of a God who must be obeyed otherwise we will be disciplined. A religion that makes rules seem like something we ritually follow, earning moral standing and reward. One that make us believe, subtly, that our good works add to our salvation. Head knowledge when it comes to God is a lot like what James says when he speaks about the demons.
"You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe - and shudder!" James 2:19
The ESV commentary on this verse states the following, "Mere mental assent to the Christian faith does not save anyone. The faith that saves, as both Paul and James affirm, embrace the truth of the gospel and acts accordingly."
The demons know, but they do not believe. They understand the truth, but it makes them no less demonic. They recognise Christ, but they do not honour Him as Lord. They do not obey Him or long to worship Him. They fear Him, yes, because He is holy, majestic and all-powerful. Unlike us, the demons have no trouble recognising the truth and the power of God. The one true, living God. But they remain enslaved to evil. Loving it.
In Matthew 8:28-34, we see an encounter between Christ and a demon possessed man. The demons cry out "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" There is no heart of repentance, no sincere cry for deliverance. A mere acknowledgement of Christ as the Son. The Messiah. Time and time again we see this. In Acts 19:15 we read, "But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognise, but who are you?" And in Mark 3:11, "And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."
The question becomes; since demons are indeed workers of Satan, might this not be the reason that their knowledge does not lead to true worship and repentance? Surely as humans who were created to be in relationship with our Creator, if we see and recognise Christ as the Saviour and the Son of God we would give our lives to live for him?
Our totally depraved nature, our hardened hearts, our blind eyes and our deaf ears would argue otherwise.
"For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." Romans 1:21
The ESV says, "Human beings are foolish, not in the sense that they are intellectually deficient but in their rejection of God's lordship over their lives. They knew God not in a saving sense, but they knew of his existence and his attributes."
Read Matthew 13:14-15; "Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ "
There is danger in only knowing, as much as there is danger in only loving
Christianity involves a heart and a life that sees and savours Jesus Christ. A faith based on knowledge will very quickly turn into a holier that thou attitude and a judgmental heart. The trap of works-based righteousness. It can very quickly diminish the awe and wonder we should have for the grace poured over our lives. The salvation that wretched sinners are brought into. Head knowledge diminishes our infinite Lord to a box. It states I can examine you. I can reason you out. I can learn how you work and act. It places the Lord into your hands instead of placing you into the hands of the Creator of the Universe. Whose ways are higher than ours. Whose thoughts are immeasurable. Who needed no counsel to speak all we see into existence.
Am I saying we should not know God? Goodness no. Theology, true theology, in combination with a heart filled with the Spirit will lead to worship that is real and life changing. I'm warning against putting God in a box and treating Him as something that reason can completely reason out. Faith goes beyond reason, but it does not kill reason.
And if we focus too much on the love and emotion? Well, to quote Jen Wilkin; "The heart cannot love what the mind does not know."
So what about those 18 inches?
The simple answer; we need both. We need a mind filled with the knowledge of God and a heart alive to the love of God. We need to see God for who He is, but the Lord is not simply an object to be studied. He is also not just a lovely fairytale to believe in.
Real knowledge, starts with a true encounter which leads to ever increasing love and growth in Christ-likeness. It is a journey; a journey that lasts a lifetime. The journey of aligning our hearts and minds with Truth.
A mind filled with knowledge of truth does not change a life, a heart alive to truth changes eternity.
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." C.S. Lewis
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