What does faith offer us?

REAL PERSONAL FREEDOM

A close faithful relationship with God
can lead us to a deep sense of
purpose and contentment in life.
Which gives us ‘real personal freedom’.

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1.    INTRODUCTION

Now you may recognise the guy, in the image, from the ‘homepage’ of this website. He asks the challenging question, “Should I care whether God exists?” And that is a question that once sat with me as well. That is, prior to what I refer to here as my audit of ‘Christian faith in action within everyday life’.

(I am from a senior auditing background and the majority of my advisory team are Christian clergy. To glimpse the ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this website please click here.)

Firstly, this article follows on from, “Building sound faith” in this “Journey of faith” section. And it’s probably best if you do read it before this article.

I try hard here, in this article, to explain the rewards available to anyone who has developed ‘sound Christian faith’ for themselves and applied it to their lives. So yes, I write that it is indeed a good idea to ‘care whether God exists!’

The article, “How to believe in God?” gives directions, if needed, on how to reach that particular goal, i.e. ‘believing that God is real’ through our use of Christian faith.

2.    GETTING A ‘HANDLE’ ON LIFE

Like me in my years as an atheist, you may have already recognised that the contentment in life which you had hoped for is largely unreachable! For a starter, ‘getting what we want, and getting it when we want it’, does not happen too often. And oh so often, as a result, our big objectives do go ‘pear-shaped’. We often find ourselves struggling, as a result…

Starting to sound familiar?

Even in my early days of testing Christian faith I found myself on a journey that offered a very different way of life. As a ‘baptised’ Christian, that included going to church, reading the Bible and definitely ‘connecting with God’ in my daily life. Strangely, it was no longer all about me.

I was in fact ‘walking in the shadow’ of something far larger. And I came to realise that I had some new responsibilities to meet as a result of my faith. Yet, I also found myself becoming … strangely I guessed at the time … contented. Somehow, my life was becoming to make sense; offer more positive outcomes. I mean ‘positive outcomes’ here for both me and others affected by my life.

Yes, a sense of freedom was slowly growing within me. I was actually getting a ‘handle’ on life.

3.     FAITHFULNESS AND FREEDOM IN PERSPECTIVE

Look, even in its early days, faith can be empowering. Especially when it is compared to other life options! But there is much more on offer when we do deliberately engage with God through sound Christian faith.

During my early days of faith, mentioned above, I certainly came to find that I was largely freed from the bad habits and selfishness that had tended to drag me down in the past. And I certainly noticed a positive difference in my attitude towards life even at that stage.

But yes, there was much, much more to come my way!

3.1    ‘In sync’ with him

When we do come to ‘live in step’ through ‘sound faith‘ – trying very hard to live ‘faithfully‘ – we are largely ‘in sync’ with God. Of course we need to follow God’s guidance in life as well. And that is where it all really can ‘come together‘ for us!

I eventually noticed so much more can be achieved through a life lived ‘in sync’ with God! My ‘evaluation’ of Christian faith in action actually led to greater ‘spin-offs’ than I would have ever thought likely. I often use the term, “more of the same” when talking about God’s ‘loving care‘ (that’s explained later) and its ‘positive outcomes‘ as he applies it to our lives. And I was recognising it ‘more and more often’ in my faith journey and indeed my whole life.

So, yes again, I personally got used to it! And again I did come to find just how empowering faith can be! Mind you, we do need to understand that the road of faith, despite its rewards, will not be totally freed from ‘humps and bumps’. And more about that later too.

3.2    Finding ‘ourselves’

Importantly, we should learn how to follow God’s ‘guidance‘ on our path through life. God completely knows every one of us: our personalities, our abilities, and our weaknesses I must add. Our needs, and those of other people close to us … even others in our communities … are also clearly known by God.

So, God knows ‘each of us’ intimately and has a ‘life-plan‘ for us as a result. Somehow … it also often includes many positive benefits for other folk (life’s never ‘just about us’, you see). And that plan, also referred to as ‘God’s will‘, CAN certainly lead us to a ‘contented and purposeful life‘.

Just like me, you can come to find that God will be there to ‘guide you‘ in all the important areas of your life; to free you from the results of your own poor decision making. This includes the big issues/ challenges/ responsibilities we will each face in life. And on the occasions you do follow that guidance he will then ‘assist you’ towards the best outcomes possible.

That term “assist you” above refers to God’s gift of ‘providence’. Please read the article, “God’s helping hand” for an understanding. It is also a result of God’s deep love and goodwill for us.

If you are truly ‘in sync’ with God, then your life can become more ‘smooth‘ and ‘under control‘. This is faith’s top gear! And yes, this is about how you can actually find the ‘REAL YOU’. That sense of peace in life really shines through as a result.

Please read the article, “Trusting God with your life” to get the big picture on that one.

Yes, I can assure you, this stuff really works!

3.3    Life in perspective through God’s love

Finally, and without doubt, we practising Christians ‘revel’ in the freedom flowing from God’s love for us. It becomes so very obvious through our ever deepening relationship with Jesus. As explained in “Building sound faith”, God in the ‘person of Jesus‘ painfully died for us: to pay for all of our life’s wrongdoing; our sins.

Yes, it looks a ‘tall order’ to accept that one, for a beginner Christian. But we do come to ‘get it’. If I could do it then you, the reader, surely can! So, Christianity’s basis is all about love. God loves us without limits. And that does really does help to place our lives in perspective. Yes you absolutely can come to believe all this stuff. I explain about that under subheading 4.2 in the article, “How to believe in God?”

And of course, as I so often state on this website, “life is not just all about me!” There is a lot of satisfaction in looking back at what we have done to help others in need, for example. And yes, this relates to Jesus’ second commandment “Love your fellow human being as much as you love yourself”.

It is actually hard to find words to clearly describe that relationship with God, that awaits us, well enough to do them justice. Or explain that love we can come to have for him. Please have a look at the article, “Christianity Explained” for a better understanding of our religion’s beauty. Especially, what our Lord Jesus did for us … to buy our freedom from sin! I also add a bit more on the subject under the next subheading.

3.4    Life’s meaning is clear

Most importantly, I found that my relationship with the Lord really had another ‘surprising’ result in my life. I now know, without doubt, it is indeed the reason for my existence; why I am actually here. Real meaning!

Again, it just becomes obvious to us as we come to ‘get it all together.’ It can free us, again making us ready to face most any challenge in life!

And for some ‘heavy stuff’ now! Although modern society tries to forget it, physical life will eventually come to an end for each and every one of us. We are told in the Bible that we Christians will then move on to eternal life: freedom from death itself. Now that is not a bad promise in itself eh? Jesus has paid for all our wrongdoing in life through his sacrifice on the cross.

Ultimately, that is where our personal relationships with the Lord will take us! And again yes, if ‘old auditor me’ could come to accept that, I am sure anyone can! If they are open minded and put in the ‘time and effort’ of course.

3.5    Reduced stress

I confidently write, if we do trust God; are faithful to him, then we can be freed from so much stress in life.

Like other faithful Christians, I eventually found there was no need anymore to worry about things that might go wrong; be overly worried about making mistakes; or be fearful of anything really! 

If you are bit of a ‘worry wart’ like me, then active faith really can reduce the average worries and woes that face you in everyday life. God will simply help you deal with them. Freedom … freedom … freedom. Seriously!

It’s all about having faith and trust in God (again please read that article, “Trusting God with your life”). When you DO fully trust God, then he is much more ABLE to quietly work away in your favour. It just happens that way!

4. BUT NOT ALL ‘SMOOTH SAILING’

Firstly, from my experiences, there may well be hard work on the road ahead as you faithfully walk along with God. Although on the other hand it may be strangely satisfying.

Remember too, life will definitely have its ups and downs, whether we have faith or not. Physical and emotional suffering will inevitably happen somewhere through life. Please see the article, “Suffering and Evil”.

And we CAN grow emotionally and spiritually as a result of our suffering in life. Now, you might find ‘that one’ a bit hard to accept, depending upon your age and position in life at this stage. But I guess that all us Christians DO come to accept it as ‘truth’ as life passes by. Yes, we GROW! That refers to both this human life and absolutely beyond it.

St Paul advised, in a letter to some members of the early Christian Church, that his readers should place true suffering in perspective (Romans 8:18), “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.” He was  discussing ‘relative’ short term pain in this life as a Christian, when compared to long term gain in Heaven. Hmmm, maybe ‘a bit heavy’ for the average reader?

But, yes, most of us are going to suffer somewhere in life … and it pays to put that into perspective. Christian faith really does help us there! We can literally be lifted through just about any form of pain by God when we choose to connect with him there.

So it is very true to say that we will be better able to cope with life’s ‘hard knocks’, as a result of our faith, when they DO occur. This is because: although God may not prevent mishaps and pain occurring, he is always there to support us with his grace. We just have to ASK for it.

Make no bones about it … he will be there! Please read the article, “God during hard times“.

5.    CONCLUSION

Importantly, from my experiences in life, the more we are able to place self-discipline in our lives – become ‘faithful‘ Christians, and look to God’s expectations and so-called plans for us – then the closer and more loving our relationship with him grows. And the more ‘freedom’ we shall achieve as a result. And for most of us, a good proportion of our lives can be recognised in this way!

As implied already, I know that looks ‘paradoxical’? But from decades of using and then ‘evaluating’ faith in my own life, I personally know that it is true! It does not mean a boring life either. You should, for example, find yourself achieving goals in life that are very satisfying; AND possibly outcomes you had not even thought about prior to coming to faith. There is certainly no longer any reason to try to keep up with the Joneses, or have to ‘suck up’ to anyone to get on in life.

Yes, it is all about contentment and a sense of purpose in life. We can normally come to recognise ‘genuine peace’ in our lives on a daily basis. From my experiences, there can ALSO be plenty of excitement along the way. It is all about ‘engaging’ with God in life, in a Bible-based manner, and going for ‘faith’s top gear‘! And yes, that even applies during those ‘hard times‘!