For Christians, faith is the search for connection with God through Jesus Christ, who we embrace with all love and devotion. Our happiness, strength, and effectiveness depends upon how well we are able to form our life around a simple, organizing principle. Christians develop their personal faith in order to improve their connection with Christ, with the goal of growing more like Christ in every way.
Our faith matrix is the structure of how our faith interacts with all aspects of our lives. This structure relies on four key balances--Perception, Action, Community, and Time.
The Perception balance is how we perceive the object of our faith, and how we perceive the world around us through our faith.
This balance has two key points--Reason and Passion.
The Action balance is how we develop the habits that make up our daily lives.
This balance is between two key points--Submission (inner habits) and Action (outer habits.)
The Community balance is how we live by with others in faith community.
This balance is between the points of Self-Awareness and Community Awareness.
The Time balance is hos we relate our faith to past and future.
This balance is between the points of Heritage and Hope.
Organizing and living our faith on a day-to-day basis is something we all struggle with constantly. Becoming Christlike is not something we fully achieve. That's why we all need to keep growing and seeking to become more like Him every day.
The apostle Paul wrote "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:13) To "press on" to that goal requires a desire to grow more Christlike as well as the power to change our very nature into His.
God through the Holy Spirit can give us both. But for our part, this requires a willingness to put out the effort to listen to His voice and seek change in all areas of life.
It is our hope that these blogs will provoke a desire to be more like Christ, and suggest some ways we can all grow into His likeness.
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