Patrick O'Connell

Faith and Struggle

Yesterday I had a spiritual conversation with someone I love.

She believes in Jesus and attends church on a regular basis. But she continues to struggle with all of it. As a result, and by her own admittance, she has yet to fully give herself to Jesus. She has some key reservations about the authenticity of the gospels as well as how the love of God works on all people but yet only those who profess faith in Christ are saved.

I tried to answer her questions but mostly I told her my story. I learned from her as she recounted all of her struggles. Our conversation was raw. I thought we covered some really hard issues.

After she went home I spent the evening reading articles about faith. I've decided to try and write something up about it. I envision a primer of sorts for people who are interested enough in Jesus to at least ask questions about him. I am sure there are a zillion books like this already but I suspect that the process of writing this up will help me in with my own struggles.

Here's a definition I read in The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought:

To Christian theology it (faith) is the fundamental response of the believer to the God who reveals himself and his plan of salvation pre-eminently in his son, Jesus Christ.

Hmm, faith is a response to God...I mean I know this, but there's a lot there to ponder. Faith isn't about us doing something, rather it's about God doing something and us responding. This is a good start.

I'd appreciate any input you have on the topic.

What Are You Teaching Your Children?

I have been thinking much about what we are teaching our children about the world and their place in it.

If you're a Jesus follower, it's quite straight-forward. We want them to know Christ and his sacrifice on their behalf. We want them to understand that their purpose in life is to glorify God and enjoy Him. You know, the basic kind of stuff.

Don't worry, we don't push them too hard. We don't make them memorize scripture or recite the Our Father in Greek. But we do bring them to church. We advocate that they serve the Jesus mission. We urge them to pray without ceasing. We also try to explain why the world is in the mess it is (sin) and why we all need Jesus (because he redeemed us) and how God created us to live lives of purpose. We try to show them God's love by being good, responsible, engaging parents.

Remember, if you follow Jesus, then chances are you accept the Bible as truth. The Bible has everything we need to know about life and that goes for our children as well.

All of this got me to thinking about what I was teaching my kids before following Jesus. (I am speaking primarily of myself here as my wife Nancy has been a believer most of her life.) Even Nancy will admit that we weren't teaching them much before I came to the faith. I mean it was some esoteric stuff about right and wrong and that they should be good people, etc. But not truth. What we did teach them was not absolute. Rather it was a hodge-podge of relativistic mumbo-jumbo.I couldn't explain the world (and why it's such a mess) to my daughter any better than I could the colors of sunrise. So I made it up. And these were lies when you get right down to it.

But Jesus changed all of that. Now I have access to absolute truth in my life and it makes it so much easier than trying to make it up as I go.

I just thought I'd point this out. I know I am stating the obvious. But I wanted to praise God and remind you that the truth is in Christ, available to all who seek Him, including parents.

If you are a believer, I urge you to 'teach' them about Jesus. This takes time (we seem to have precious little but nothing is more important than Jesus) and you must be intentional about it (you need to spend time as a family reading scripture, praying, talking about the faith).

Of course, I am a work in progress. I struggle finding the time and I am not always intentional. But I am trying.

Spiritual Conversations

I am trying to get better at lifestyle evangelism. I truly believe it's the most effective way for me to do my part in spreading the gospel of Christ.

Furthermore, the longer I am on this journey, the more interested I am in spiritual conversations with people. I found this article by Donald S. Whitney: 10 Questions to Ask to Turn Conversation Towards the Gospel, to be be quite helpful in this regard. Your not going to find me asking people if they're afraid of an eternity separated from God because they don't follow Jesus. But I could certainly see myself asking some of the questions on this list.

1. When you die, if God says to you, "Why should I let you into Heaven?", what would you say? Are you interested in what the Bible says about your answer?
2. If you were to die tonight, where do you think you would spend eternity? Why? Are you interested in what the Bible says about this?
3. Do you think much about spiritual things?
4. How is God involved in your life?
5. How important is your faith to you?
6. What has been your most meaningful spiritual experience?
7. Do you find that your religious heritage answers your questions about life?
8. Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs? If what you believe were not true, would you want to know it? Well, the Bible says . . . .
9. To you, who is Jesus?
10. I often like to pray for people I meet; how can I pray for you?