It may unsettle some, but I think that every person – and therefore their faith – is limited. This affects everything. Everyone tries to live their life and, so to speak, stumbles forward while doing so. We have no idea what the next minute will bring, and can only take one step forward at a time, courageously. That one step is unknown until we dare to take it. There are, accordingly, adventures of life and adventures of faith.

Moreover, everyone believes for themselves. Just as everyone walks on their own legs and needs their own body, so everyone can only believe for themselves. Paul stresses this explicitly (Rom 14:22).

Human limitation is a given. Standing within it, accepting it and taking responsibility for it is the mark of an adult. At the same time, it points to two further things:

1. We choose our own position.
2. Ideas of faith are not absolute.

When it comes to the ideas we live by, faith is part of them. People can and will believe, and the Bible can play a valuable role in that. We can reflect on what that role is, as well as on the way we believe and why we do so. That we take certain ideas for granted does not mean that these ideas are “right”. Moreover, as limited human beings we cannot have an absolute understanding of “correctness” – unless we were God himself.

Ideas of faith always exist in a field of tension. That is where their task lies. Ideas of faith look beyond ourselves. Proclamation fosters faith because it points beyond ourselves. We stand in the tension between the “limited self” and “what goes beyond myself”. That is also where trust in God grows. Ideas of faith speak of things that are greater than ourselves, that reach further than we can see, and that can therefore light up like a lighthouse in our own lives. So I do not mean a particular “right” view or doctrine, but the function of faith in everyday life.

We stumble through our lives and try to make the best of it. I can grant that to every person, even if I do not adopt their solution. People get hurt and often respond with strange solutions: self-righteousness, narcissism, low self-esteem, hatred and self-hatred, and much more. One does not have to agree with these just because one sees behind them a person who is trying to make something good of their life. I see that everyone stumbles through life in their own way. We cannot do otherwise.

We can give our stumbling a direction. In doing so, we take responsibility for our humanity and our well-being, and shape our understanding of God, the world and other people. Whoever takes responsibility has grown up. This is especially important where our own insights and questions differ from those of the community. That will inevitably happen.

As far as we ourselves are concerned, it involves a process of individuation. One gains insight into one’s own thought patterns and ideas, and perhaps struggles through to new understanding. Everyone goes through such a process if they allow it. Nevertheless, the tension between the “views of one’s surroundings” and “one’s own insights” is real. It is precisely there that personal responsibility proves itself and that our own decisions emerge.

We can come to terms with our own life story and try to say goodbye to unhealthy patterns. Positively, we can also try to practise better ones. What we think becomes what we do. Patterns of thinking lead to patterns of action. That is roughly what proclamation also contributes to. Paul describes it as follows:

“I appeal to you now, brothers, … to make your bodies available as a living, holy sacrifice pleasing to God, … (and) to let yourselves be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
Rom 12:1-2

Reshaping, renewal, transformation – these are the terms that matter in everyday life. This does not mean that one has not been good so far, or has not tried to do good; it is about examining what currently is. In the same verses the apostle says: “so that you may be able to examine what the will of God is – the good, pleasing and perfect.” Being able to examine is a skill that one can develop. It arises from the two preceding things:

1. Making oneself available.
2. Letting oneself be transformed through the renewal of thinking.

• By the way, this is not “super spiritual” if by that one means special insights or extravagant religious ideas. The apostles are concerned with practical matters. Life practice is “spiritual”. There is no other way to understand it. With the verses just mentioned, Paul begins the section on conduct in his letter to the Romans. That is the section that follows on from the proclamation. This is also what the second part of the letter to the Ephesians is about. That we stumble in these matters is human. How we stumble, however, is something we can address.