Honesty

It’s very easy for Christians to be dishonest. No, I’m not accusing anyone of putting forged banknotes into the collection plate, nor of pretending to be a high-flying executive when they are simply a checkout assistant. What I’m suggesting is rather different: that we can give the impression of being dedicated and confident followers of Jesus when in fact we feel weak and unsure about what we believe.

Hymns, in particular, put words into our mouths that are almost certainly untrue. For instance, I certainly do get “dismayed” when storms (whether literal or emotional) begin to “roar without me”; conversely I don’t “live rejoicing every day” even though I believe that Jesus has “washed my sins away” – in fact most days are pretty ordinary!

We can even get caught out by repeating the historic creeds of the Church and making great statements of what we believe. For once we start thinking about them more carefully we might want to say, “Hang on! I’m not so sure about that bit” or even, “Yes, I said that – but, to be honest, I don’t really have much of a clue as to what it means”!

So why do we do this? In part, it’s because it’s very easy to sing or say words without giving them much thought. We can be on ‘autopilot’, letting them pass directly from our eyes to our lips and bypassing our brain; or we can be so swayed by the tune we’re singing that we pay little attention to the words. I’m not saying that we have to ponder every word in our hymnbooks; but we might sometimes need to stop and think, “Is this really true for me?” It’s not a crime to remain silent if our conscience won’t permit us to speak.

Another reason might be the Bible itself, which contains lots of verses that seem to reflect enormous confidence in God. The Psalmist speaks of angels lifting up God’s people so they will not “dash their feet against a stone” or suffer harm, while Jesus tells his disciples of the mere mustard-seed of faith that is required to move a mountain. Perhaps it’s Paul who seems to have the strongest faith of all: he claims, almost arrogantly, that he can do “all things in Christ” who gives him strength. We can be thankful for characters such as Elijah who seem to have a much more realistic faith.

But probably the main reason why we’re not entirely honest about our faith is because we think that everyone else in the church does it better than we do! We assume that they read large chunks of the Bible every day, or find it easy to pray, or never have doubts about God, or readily apply Christian values to every part of their life. I’m sure that there are a few people like that among us – but not many. Most of us, I guess, just muddle through life hoping that Jesus will help us when we call out to him.

So let’s be honest with each other – and with God! Let’s take some of the great words of faith that we sing or say as “aspiration” rather than “assertion”. Let’s talk to each other about our struggles of faith rather than concealing them, for we may be able to help one another. And let’s never forget that a church is far more than a collection of motley individuals: it should be a community in which we all share and learn and grow together.

Best wishes,
Andrew