A personal faith

A “personal faith” means that we ourselves live a trusting relationship with God. It is personal and thus different from a rational acceptance of certain dogmas, religious assumptions or ethics. Faith is always trust. Faith is therefore always relationship. The lived trust is directed to God and the freedom to do so we receive through Jesus Christ, who came into the world as a mediator between God and man (1Tim 2,4-7).

The good news of God’s grace in Christ Jesus means that God meets us in His Son, as the beginning of the Letter to the Hebrews describes:

“After God spoke to the fathers through the prophets many times and in many ways before the ages, in the last of these days He speaks to us in the Son…” (KNT)
Heb 1:1-2

However different we are from our Creator, and however much we can never hold a candle to His glory (Rom 3:23), He has nevertheless reached out to us in love and has Himself created all the conditions for us to find our way to Him (Acts 17:26-27). Every difference between Him and us, every one of our shortcomings, every deficiency has been made up through Jesus, the Christ (Rom 5:8). He has appointed Him “heir (w. lot-holder) of all things” (Heb . 1:2 Rev. Elbf.). Jesus is the connecting part and the missing link, appointed by God as the mediator between Him and man, between Creator and creation. The good news is: We are given all these things by grace (Eph 2:8-10). It’s not cheap, but it’s complete. It is solved once and for all. It is what is called “salvation”.

Today, this is “spiritual reality” – with an impact on our lives now. He who believes trusts in it. When the message resonates, sets us in motion, triggers gratitude, then that is the starting shot of a living faith. This is not tangible today, but it will follow in the future. In the future, we will be affected by this holistically – according to the biblically attested expectation (Rom 8:23-25; Eph 1:13-14).

The imprint of our faith

Unfortunately, this approach can also tip into the opposite. Personal faith can mutate into an ego-centeredness. While in the Gospel and also in a living faith God Himself is always in the center, the opposite is that man (or the believer) is put in the center. In the process, a shift takes place. What began as a liberating message tips over into the opposite through another proclamation. It can become a view full of false expectations. They are different ways of looking at things, with great consequences for life and faith.

Our society is highly individualized. Sometimes I have the impression that faith has also been individualized. This is the impression I get again and again when a self-centeredness is put above everything. This is not an isolated phenomenon, but it is also preached like this in many free churches: You have to decide for Jesus, you have to take guidance from the Bible, you have to, you have to …

The understandable desire to have a personal faith connection is in itself quite healthy. But, it is elevated to an all-dominant issue in many a doctrine. The result is an image of God that cannot be found in the Bible. For where in Scripture does it say that God gives us indications day by day? And if we find such highlights described in the Bible for individual people, should this be the rule for all evangelicals every day today? Really?

Man, relax!

I have long thought that this personal reference is optimal. Because in fact, if we want to live our lives consciously, it needs a personal reference. It is good if we decide for ourselves quite positively for certain things. It is good if we orient ourselves in life, give direction and meaning to our lives. God addresses us as human beings, means us personally. In fact, it is a great wealth when we are made free inwardly and can then consciously place our lives in God’s hands. All of this has great value. But a narrowed focus on myself, is that really healthy? Is this what we take from the Bible? Or is that more of an ideology?

Not infrequently, I have heard about the stress that religious expectations cause people. Experiencing daily guidance from God is perceived as a success factor in the experience of faith. “He guides me personally” becomes a seal of approval for everyday faith. Of course, someone can personally take it that way. There’s a blessing in there. But is it the gold standard for successful Christians? Should this be the daily experience? These are the kinds of testimonies that are readily quoted in worship services on Sundays. These are the testimonials that are readily mentioned as motivational boosts in books and in conversations as samples. Concrete experiences become the yardstick. This is quite like saying that our life and life of faith are only about the highlights as we find them described in the Bible. It would be a kind of “highlight faith.” If you don’t feel the same way or have the same experience, you may feel like an outsider in some circles.

Here, one should address each other with the words “Man, relax!”. My imperfection was precisely the reason that Christ came. God remains God, even if I don’t feel Him right now. This world on which we stand remains His world, regardless of whether I “do everything right,” “feel right,” “believe right.” However, all these things require me to look away from myself and look to Him who sustains our lives. We need trust in God, more than concrete success factors of a misguided ego-centeredness. I recognize a realistic faith reference in the familiar words of a father who desperately turns to Jesus for help for his son: “I believe. Help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:14-29). So I will look to God’s Word and expect everything from Him.

I-centeredness

There are worlds between a personal and living faith and a perhaps misguided ego-centeredness. The difference can be developed in this or that direction through appropriate preaching and subculture.

How does a personal reference become an ego reference? This happens when the human being is placed centrally in the proclamation, when personal experience is given an all-superior role, so that people no longer live in the power of God but in the spasm of their own expectation. When this happens, the essence of faith is changed. An ego bias, for example, can manifest itself in this way:

• The Bible Must Always Speak to Me (Evangelical)
• The Bible always speaks of me (unreflectively)
  
• Let God confirm my every step in life (evangelical)
• God has a very detailed plan for my life (evangelical)
• I must always understand what I read (infer God and the Bible by itself)
• If God doesn’t answer my prayer, I panic (legal, uncertain)
• If my prayer is not answered, then am I praying wrongly or am I not a true believer? (charismatic)
• If I am not healed, then I do not believe enough (charismatic)
• If I do not feel sinful enough, I am not worthy to accept God’s grace (Calvinistic extreme)
• Faith I must feel! (sentimentalism, Sturm und Drang)
• and the like.

If this attitude is now also promoted in sermons, house groups, books, etc., then compulsive situations logically follow. They are ideological approaches. Ego-referral is something quite different from the God-referral or Christ-referral found in the Bible. It is also something other than a healthy sense of self. The I-centeredness stands instead of a God-centeredness and in my opinion also instead of a healthy self-confidence. If you always have to be in the center yourself, you are missing something essential.

Discover other viewing angles

A sober reflection can reveal quite different perspectives:

• The Bible does not always speak to me, but mostly to other people
• The Bible speaks of me, but then only as a member of humanity, or as a member of the nations or the people of Israel, or as part of the church. We are part of different groups. This is the only way we are addressed.
• God does not have to confirm anything for me. He is God. He equipped me with everything for life and also made known His work and love in Christ. What is still missing?
• God has a plan for this world. I’m in good hands in that, with all my personal challenges.
• Some things I don’t understand in the Bible. I can give it time.
• He will probably do it because I am leaning on His promises.

Other perspectives relativize the self-evidence with which personal experience is placed centrally in sermons. Of course, God means us personally, He wants to reach us with the gospel of grace. A farewell to a self-centeredness enables Him to talk to us again. With a self-centeredness, we get in the way of ourselves and God. If you put yourself at the center, you can’t have a relationship. We must be able to listen if we want to engage with God.

A hearing heart

When Solomon became king over Israel and he was still a young man, he was far from perfect. He needed help. He was looking for God. In prayer, he did not ask for daily leadership experiences, but instead asked for a listening heart:

“So give your servant a listening heart to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil. For who is able to judge this mighty people of yours?”
1King 3,9

Solomon asked for wisdom so that he could better exercise his own responsibility for his tasks. If we read how Moses, the prophets, like Jesus Himself and also the apostles expected everything from God, and how they became silent before Him, then we find good examples for our everyday life in it. None of the biblical figures had a life spoiled by success (with the exception, perhaps, of Jabez). No one reports daily tours – not even Solomon. Instead, he asked for wisdom and a listening heart so that he himself would learn to make the right decisions every day. Paul asked similar things for the church today.

Personal, but not ego-centric

Faith is no different today than it was in ancient times. Faith was and is always personal trust in God. Man looks to Him. It was so for Abraham, for Moses, for every believer from Israel and for every believer from the nations. It was so for Jesus and for the apostles and for the church from the beginning.

Those who seek a daily sense of success in their faith will find no role models in the Bible. Neither in the Old nor in the New Testament is it reported that people receive “daily” directives from God on how to arrange their lives. Such views exist only in certain doctrines and assumptions about faith. You can get rid of those.