By Tom Wiles | For The Times-Post
For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.” — Ezra 8:15-32
I knew the Bible said, “Confess your sins to each other so that you may be healed,” but these were my sins.
If you were to ask me at the time if I believed those words, I would have said, “Absolutely!”
And yet, there I was caught between my theology (what I said I believed) and my faith (the willingness to act on what I said I believed).
It wasn’t until, with God’s help, I entered into hard conversations which led to the joy and wonder of God’s promised healing.
Ezra was caught in just such a bind.
On one hand, he had spoken boldly to the pagan king about how Israel’s God protects all who worship him.
On the other hand, he was responsible to lead a group of people on a long and dangerous journey.
Yikes! He was caught between his theology and his faith. Courageously, he leaned into faith.
With fasting and earnest prayer, they departed without a single bodyguard, trusting only in God to protect them.
And he did.
Good Biblical theology is critical to spiritual growth.
Theology alone, however, doesn’t constitute a growing relationship with God.
A relationship requires trust, which is most clearly seen in obedience.
Every day, we will be in positions to either act in trust to what God has said or not.
If we choose to disconnect our lives from God and his word, we will also live disconnected from the wonder and adventure that comes with obedient trust.
True transformation
In those days, I saw men of Judah treading out their winepresses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in grain, loading it on donkeys, and bringing their wine, grapes, figs, and all sorts of produce to Jerusalem to sell on the Sabbath. So, I rebuked them for selling their produce on that day. — Nehemiah 13:1-31
As soon as the coach left the gym, most of us kids who were trying out for the team dialed down the effort significantly.
We didn’t do the drills or especially the sprints with near the intensity or enthusiasm that we did when the coach was present.
My heart sank when out of the corner of my eye, I saw the coach peeking in through one of the windows on the doors.
Nehemiah was a great leader.
As long as he was in town, the returned exiles of Israel stayed the course.
They obeyed the law of Moses.
They worked hard to rebuild the wall.
They were focused on getting their physical and spiritual houses in order.
By all appearances, it looked like a national revival.
Until, Nehemiah left town.
Nehemiah was limited by the fact that not even he could change the people’s hearts.
True transformation it seems is an inside-out proposition.
All attempts to appear a particular way on the outside will ultimately fail.
Paul wrote about being a brand-new creation.
Jesus spoke about being born again.
These are not the descriptions of the “try harder” religion that trips up so many.
We’re called to “abide in Christ” and to “be filled with the Spirit.”
Looking like Jesus must be preceded by being changed by Jesus.
Tom Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.