Rotting Spirituality: Why we can’t reason with someone about our faith

One of the things I’ve grown to love is fresh paint. Here at the Smith homestead, we have had painters at our house freshening the exterior of our home. 

The names of our painters are Eduardo and Susanna, a husband and wife duo that are true artists.   

My father-in-law sometimes quips, “caulk and paint make it what it ain’t.” He’s right.

When fresh paint is applied, it brings new life into a space. But it also can cover up mistakes and problems. Here’s the problem with caulk and paint. If you paint over rotten wood, the wood may look nice, but the integrity is compromised. In time, it can become a big problem.

 So it is with our spiritual lives. We can dress ourselves up and look presentable to our friends and neighbors, pretending we’re fine. But just beneath the service are the hurts, habits, and hang-ups that are ruining our lives.

I’m convinced that one of the downfalls of social media is the tendency to project to everyone that all is well. Unfortunately, when the storms and challenging seasons of life come, our compromised integrity is exposed, and we break down.

Then people are left wondering what happened?

SOCIAL DECLINE

One of the contributing factors to our current cultural decline rests in the breakdown of public virtue. Dr. Tim Tennet, President of Asbury Theological Seminary, says, “in today’s climate, ethical statements come across as inherently judgmental.” Any talk of public moral standards is interpreted as offensive.

The lack of public virtue is the most significant sign that our society is rotting away.

This breakdown in public virtue, I believe, is one of the greatest contributing factors to our current social divisions. Is it unethical to wear a mask? Is it unethical not to be vaccinated? Is it unethical to mandate vaccines?

These questions cannot be answered in a society where there is no moral standard. Again Tennet writes, “nothing extrinsic to yourself can be used as a standard for evaluation of a right or wrong course of action” that includes the Bible.

If you try to reason with a person who does not believe the Bible, then whatever you say will be dismissed under the explanation “that’s your opinion.”

Living Statues of God

What can we do? I would suggest heeding Paul’s words in Col. 3:9-10, where he teaches to “put off the old self” and “put on the new self.” Why would you do this? Because the Bible teaches, we are living images of God.

In the ancient world, pagan societies would sculpt and shape their gods’ images and place them around their land.  When you enter into a region, the statue of a deity would indicate who the land’s god is.

If you’ve been keeping up with Redeemer’s reading plan, then you’ll notice the prophet’s condemnation of the idols adopted by Israel.

The reason is we’re to be God’s image-bearers, signaling to the world that the land belongs to Him. 

People we interact with every day may have never read a Bible, understood what the God of the Bible says, or even understood the person of Jesus. But they can understand you.

Our lives are to embody and reflect God’s image in this world, to be witnesses and testimonies of His glory. But if we’re only concerned about our appearances when the storms of life come, our compromised integrity will be exposed, and we’re no different than our neighbors.

The good news for us is God’s grace never runs empty. Instead, the compassion and gentleness of our Abba daddy is always ready to pick us up and dust us off.   He’s constantly chiseling and shaping us to be conformed to His image.

And that’s good news!