Clearing Up a Misunderstanding

When St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) tried to explain the existence of God in a philosophical way, known as the "ontological argument," he described his approach as "faith seeking understanding." In other words he made clear from the beginning that his fundamental belief was in God, in God's nature as revealed in Scripture and then seen throughout his life as a follower of Jesus. His quest to understand God began with Scriptural faith and then he used other means like logic, personal experience, etc. to further understand who God was and what He was about.

I find Anselm to be quite interesting and humble. He recognized that he wasn't the center of the universe, God was. He understood that he didn't know everything, but God did. He was convinced that a quest for truth began and ended with faith in the sovereignty of God. I firmly believe the same thing.

I hope to always remain humble and teachable, fully submitting my mind, heart and will to the Word of God as I have come to understand it. By faith, I believe that God reveals truth through His Word to all people, including me. However, I know that my quest to know truth and live in the truth of Christ is not and never will be over on this side of heaven. In other words, God still has much to teach me.

A few weeks ago, on January 8th, I posted an entry entitled "Preaching to Yourself Everyday." Someone recently sent me a note indicating their great concern for my spiritual state based on that article, finding it "very disconcerting." I believe I have been misunderstood. So, I beg your indulgence to set the record straight.

My intention in that article was to make clear how important and meaningful it has been for me recently to understand at a greater level the power of the Gospel in my life. I recognize now more than I ever have how much I need the grace and mercy of Jesus, not just to save my soul for heaven, but also to transform my body, my heart and my mind while I am still on earth. I am so thankful for this power from the Holy Spirit and depend on it completely. It is my only hope.

I can't imagine how anyone who is really pursuing truth and life in Christ doesn't regularly come to terms with how often their own life doesn't measure up to Jesus' standard. To me, anything other than living up to Jesus' standard is sin, plain and simple. Sin isn't just doing something that is bad, but also failing to do something that is good (see the blog post on January 15th entitled "What Sin? What Grace!" for more clarification). With that measure of faith, seeking greater understanding in God's Word, I have humbly come to the conclusion that I still have areas in my life that need further transformation in the Gospel.

I would love to dialogue more about this. It is so important that we come to a clear and biblical understanding of sin or we won't be able to appreciate the significance of salvation or why it's even necessary. So please let the dialogue begin. Like Anselm, from the vantage-point of faith, let's seek understanding together.