Circumstantial Faith
The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time. . .
Two things that erode faith faster than anything else are lifestyle decisions that eventually impact what we believe and unexplainable circumstances where God does not seem to do what we think that God ought to do. Circumstantial faith is, I am believing and trusting in God based on my ability to find God in my circumstances. Example: When you were 12 years old and your Mom or Dad told you that this is how you are supposed to behave with a young man or woman, you believed them. Then when you got older and moved to the big city, that did not seem to be so practical anymore. Nobody else was behaving that way, so you abandoned what you were taught because of your circumstances. It was circumstantial faith.
The pleasures of life will cause almost every single element of your belief system to become inconvenient. If your faith is pure circumstantial, you will opt for pleasure over faith every single time, and you will adjust your belief system to match your lifestyle. It means that what you have believed is not worth believing and that what you believe today is not worth believing tomorrow. None of that is a problem until you come to a place in life where you really need to have some belief to lean on. If all you have is circumstantial faith, eventually your faith will not hold up.
The foundation of Christianity is not an experience or your ability to make the world make sense. It is not an event or an answered prayer with God, but the thing that we lean on is history. Two thousand years ago a person, Jesus Christ, performed miracles, died on a cross, was raised from the dead, and was seen by over 500 people. He claimed to be the one who represents us to God. The foundation of our faith is a person, Jesus Christ.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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