The World vs. The Word of God
Jacob’s mom stormed into the living room.
“You guys need to either calm down or, Tanner, you need to go home!”
Her words hushed us, but Jacob shot me a dirty look once she turned around and left. His jaw clenched as he leaned in closer.
“Where in the Bible does it say works will get you into Heaven?”
I took a step closer and puffed out my chest. I could smell his breath as I retaliated, “Where in the Bible does it say you can do whatever you want?”
“I’ve already told you! In Romans—”
“Hey! Y’all! I’m not going to say it again!”
His mom’s words filled the room, leaving us glaring at one another.
We were the 21st-century versions of Nicholas and Arius. If you know your Church history, you know that Bishop (now Saint) Nicholas ultimately punched Arius at the Council of Nicaea because of Arius’s heretical beliefs about the divinity of Jesus. Like Nicholas, I was momentarily tempted to slap the heresy out of my best friend.
Looking back at our high school selves, Jacob and I laugh at our hotly contested “holy” debates — both because they escalated so intensely and because neither of us knew what we were talking about. We were both off. Way off.
Jacob held firm to the belief that faith alone was all a Christian needed. As long as someone didn’t become an absolute monster, works were essentially an add-on for the zealous.
On the other hand, I held firm to the warped view that we could earn our way into Heaven. I fell victim to the age-old heresy of Pelagianism, the idea that you can achieve salvation without God’s supernatural grace.
Nowadays, Jacob and I agree that “Faith without works is dead,” as the apostle James says, and works without faith are deadening.
Jacob has seen how his faith was influenced by the worldly ideal of “just be a good person,” and I’ve seen how my faith was infiltrated by the cultural catchphrase, “Hard work makes anything possible.”
Our spiritual beliefs masked the world’s beliefs.
Put another way, our culture’s thinking seeped into our faiths.
Jesus never taught that all we have to do is believe in him and “just be a good person.” In fact, he warned that “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 7:21).
Jacob and I grew up in a secure and comfortable suburb where most households believed that being a good person and believing in Jesus were the only necessities in life — along with a nice timeshare. It was incredibly easy to enmesh the simplicity of “just be good” with the Gospel. It was safe and congenial.
Jesus also never said, “Hard work makes anything possible.” Rather, he was pretty blunt: “…apart from me, you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).
Because of the relatively stable environment we grew up in, it was easy to believe that hard work could open whatever doors you wanted — even Heaven’s doors.
As Americans in the 21st century, living amidst a never-ending wave of digital distractions, it’s easy for conventional messages to tangle with God’s message, especially if we don’t prioritize spending time with God’s message daily.
If we’re not careful, mainstream mantras can become our personal mottos. I fell victim to this inclination back in the day and must constantly be on guard against it today.
And I know I’m not alone.
So, as a gentle reminder to you, here are some other popular rules of life for the 21st century person that Jesus never said:
“Follow your heart.”
“Live your truth.”
“Do what feels right.”
“You do you.”
“ As long as you’re happy.”
We need to remember that Jesus actually said these things:
“Follow me…” (Mt 4:19)
“I am the way, and the truth and the life.” (Jn 14:6)
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mt 16:24)
“…those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10:39)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Mt 5:3)
Telling someone to “follow your heart” is like giving someone a crayon-drawn map of the Pacific and telling them to meet you in Fiji. Scripture makes it clear that our hearts can harden to truth and be “trained in greed” (2 Pt 2:14). Following Jesus is the only way to make our hearts come fully alive.
On that note, it’s silly to think that we can “live our own truth” when Jesus repeatedly claims to have the fullness of truth.
“Do what feels right” is a fuzzy death sentence. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that sinful, destructive behaviors oftentimes feel nice. We can easily confuse what feels good for what is right, especially when it occasionally feels difficult.
We all want to live the fullest life that we can. We long to taste all that life offers. The great tragedy of life, of course, is that no experience or amount of experiences is ever enough for us. Thankfully, the great paradox of our faith is that when we surrender the need to taste everything, we receive everything we’re looking for.
With all the hardships of the world and all the suffering everywhere we look, contentment is a tempting place to slide into. “As long as we’re happy,” we can feel like we have a sense of control. As long as we’re safe, all is well. However, we’re called to live abundant, joyful, messy, inspiring, heroically virtuous lives! We can only live these lives when we leap out of our comfort zones and realize we’re not in control.
Not in the slightest.
We’re all products of our culture, and our culture does not see eye-to-eye with Jesus. Therefore, we must constantly examine and filter our beliefs through his Word. Truth is truth. Period. And as Jesus did say, “the truth will set you free.”
