4 years I tried to discover the essence of my Christian beliefs, 4 years I was withheld but not oppressed by a particular structure and system of beliefs. I could vividly remember I was once told I am too stubborn, that my defence towards my stand is a reflection of my rebellion and hardheadedness. Today I have turned that agony into purpose. I fought for it because persuasion does not build up one’s faith, armed with the uncertainty if the other party has a stand in what he believes, or he took his stand merely someone once convinced him. You shouldn’t believe something if you yourself are not convicted, risking yourself to fall into the danger and shakiness of rooting on a secondary faith. More so, you take the risk to loose your integrity to proclaim and believe in something which you are personally unconvicted when being questioned.
Brothers and sisters, I urge you to be convicted and stand unswervingly in your personal beliefs and ground yourself on a set of doctrine. Never take the blind faith path. Be aware that within the Christianity realm, there are doctrines that have segregated many believers and triggered disunity. It might not be well for me to table what I have in mind right now, wishing not cause another hurt to the already-stricken Christian influence, especially to trigger your doubt in what you believe. Each has a claim and defends what he believes. It’s all good. But let us acknowledge the differences of understanding towards different teachings and doctrines yet wholly accord Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), in view that no one person nor one group of believers has the complete and perfect comprehension of spiritual truth while here on earth. As written in 1 Corinthians 13:12 – “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” We are told we will not know everything while on earth. The end goal of our faith is salvation, being saved. Therefore, know solely what is the evidence that a person is truly saved.
Seek not to get away with your Christian faith. Be a good example and model to your fellow disciples and believers. If you are challenged and questioned, don’t shut them off. Dig in and search what your faith is made of and based on. Ultimately, brace ourselves for the end time where a rise of false teachers who seek to deceive is imminent, and if we are determined to differentiate truth and falsehood. Study your Scripture, hold steadfastly to the Word and take a stand on your beliefs. Abort tolerance, for tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.
4 years are not wasted, I believe it is made in such a way for a reason, for a greater purpose. It has solidified my convictions, that I will not be easily shattered and shaken. I want my faith to be proven genuine.
Lastly, let me throw you some good principles worth considering, shared by a dear brother of mine.
- To hold unswervingly to the core and essential doctrines and to learn to agree to disagree on secondary or peripheral matters (e.g. where the gospel is not threatened)
- To discern between areas of Conviction and areas of Command and not confuse the two (e.g. by imposing my convictions on others when they are not commands from Scripture)
- To not exchange the freedom I have in Christ to become a slave to some human tradition
- To let love be the governing principle in all I do, say, or think, and even in the pursuit of our Christian faith. As it is written in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” ~ 1 Peter 1:6-7 May it be so.
I see a break through today.
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