Belief as Relationship

          Belief is at least one of the buzzwords of the day.  Even non-religious entities want us to believe in them.  We are encouraged to “believe” in the car we drive, or to “believe” in the store where we buy clothes.  Actually, we often get the message that it doesn’t really matter what we believe in as long as we believe in something.

          No wonder people are confused.  Over 90 % of people in the U.S. say they believe in God, but most of those don’t want to be pinned down to any particular religious tradition.  Maybe you’re one of those free spirits. I offer to you the encouragement that belief does, indeed, matter.  And that belief in something “pinned down,” matters even more. 

          As someone once said, “If we don’t believe in something then we’ll fall for anything.”  So, belief in something particular, something “pinned down,” may matter a great deal.  In Christian tradition there are two ways of talking about belief.  One of these is belief as a body of doctrine.  We find this notion in the short letter of Jude, chapter one, verse three:  “Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”

          “The faith . . . once . . . entrusted to the saints,” is a statement about belief as a list of principles to be acknowledged and accepted.  This sort of doctrinal belief is important as a teaching tool in the history of Christianity but it is not, in my opinion, the key way of expressing Christian belief.

          In the Gospel of John, Jesus is constantly exhorting his followers to believe in him, not because of the signs he performs, but because of who he is.  Jesus emphasizes this point in seven different “I am,” sayings:  I am the bread of life, I am the gate, I am the good shepherd . . .

          Belief, as Jesus speaks about it, is not about a body of doctrine to acknowledge, but a relationship to be trusted.  Belief, then, becomes something personal – a living, breathing sense of community with another, rather than head-knowledge to be dissected, explained, and instructed.

          This sense of belief is what makes Christianity unique.  Christian “faith” is not ultimately a system of rules to follow, or a body of doctrine to give assent to, but a relationship to be embraced and lived.  As Jesus says in John, chapter ten, verse ten, “I came that they may have life and have it to the full.” 

          If your life seems to be missing something, I doubt that you need more rules to follow, or more principles to give assent to.  I suspect you just need a relationship that will give your life meaning.  Jesus can do that for you in a way the world cannot.  Jesus can do that for you in a way that even Christian doctrine cannot.  The relationship is what matters.  And it is a relationship you can trust.