Duncan Christian Reformed Church

I Believe

For Lent this year we've been focussing on those two words as we look at the life of our Lord Jesus. The Apostles' creed begins with those two words. The Latin is simply credo from which we get the word "creed." In the past, under the influence of the Enlightenment, the church emphasized the need to believe in certain statements of faith. According to Marcus Borg this view of faith is based on intellectual assent. He encourages us to go back further in history to what he calls the "pre-modern" approach to faith. Credo does not merely mean, "I give my intellectual assent to." It means, "I give my heart to," "I commit my loyalty to," "I commit my allegiance to." To give our heart to means we go below the level of intellect to a deeper place than our minds. When we say we believe, what we're saying

is "I give my heart to God." The object of believing is not statements. The object of believing is a Person. This is how the Bible understands faith. It is written:

I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day (2 Tim 1:12).

This kind of faith means, "to hold dear; to prize; to give one's loyalty to; to commit oneself to."

Most simply, "to believe" meant "to love." Indeed, the English word "believe" and "belove" are related. What we believe is what we belove. Faith is about beloving God (Marcus J. Borg, The Heart of Christianity, HarperSanFrancisco 2003).

This is the kind of faith we find the prophet/priest Samuel promoting. Take note of the things he said.

"If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods... and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only..." [the Revised Standard Version reads, "and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve him only"] (1 Sam 7:3).

So here is the challenge for us. Do we believe in God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit? Do we love him with all that we are? Do we give our heart to him? Do we pledge our allegiance to him?

Note: Although Borg brings up some very important issues, as with everything we might read we don't need to believe everything he says.

Pastor Walt Vanderwerf