I’ve wasted so much time believing things.
We believe.
It is a statement I have heard over and over for most of my life. I have written it down and recited what I believe more times than I can count. I have read through thousands of pages of religious beliefs. I know more about belief than anything else.
I sometimes wonder if it wasn’t a colossal waste.
Not because I don’t believe things anymore; I still believe lots of things. No, I wonder if it is a waste because refining what I believe is a great way to avoid painful truths. It makes me feel good about being “right” without ever having to do the work of becoming the thing I believe in.
Let’s get real, do religious belief statements actually matter? What good has all the time, ink, and even blood gotten us? If we measured our “deeply held beliefs” by the good they produce how many of them would come up short?
Beliefs, improperly balanced, can lead to all kinds of problems.
I think we need to reevaluate our relationship with our beliefs. We need to measure our beliefs not just by whether or not we can convince ourselves they are accurate but also by whether or not they produce measurable good in the people that believe them.
Jesus teaches that we are to judge a tree by the fruit it produces. The Apostle Paul encourages us to test every teaching and hold only to what is good. A person might have many fine beliefs about the universe but if it does not produce good it is useless.
Here is a truth, I honestly don’t think God cares all that much about what you believe. If God truly is an infinite being who is outside of time, space and other natural limits I can promise you that we are wrong about him. Even now, I feel foolish using a pronoun like “him” to describe such a being. All our languages fail to grasp the thing we are describing.
I think God is more concerned with what your beliefs produce in the world and in yourself than about how “right” they are. What matters isn’t accuracy; what matters is faith expressing itself as love.
Jesus himself backs this up:
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”
At some level, all of us are wrong about God. All of us fail fundamentally to grasp who God is. When we say, “Lord! Lord!” it is often misdirected and misguided. That is ok. God, at least in my experience, does not seem bothered by this.
What is important is that we actually do the will of the Father.
And what is that you might ask? Jesus is kind enough to explain what that is. It is doing to others as you would have them do to you, it is living without an arrogant attitude, it is giving your resources to those in need, and it is loving your enemies.
Here is a secret; no one cares what you say you believe. Your profession of faith impresses no one. Your declarations of love mean little. It is your actions and daily practices that tell the truth about you. That is what matters.
CALL TO ACTION:
Rather than declare how loving and righteous you are, simply do the things that loving and righteous people do. If you have to convince someone you love them with your words it is probably because you have failed in your actions.
The vast majority of Jesus’ teachings are concerned with the practice of right living. He lists out surprisingly few mandated beliefs about God. Maybe there is something to learn from that example.
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