Unfortunately, the fact that we are biologically conditioned to recognize patterns does not mean that we interpret them correctly all of the time. Remember that our abilities are limited and as human, fallible. Often the patterns we see in causal relationships are false. We make spurious correlations for both good and bad.
Doing so is of course an attempt to understand the world around us. We don’t touch a red burner on a stove because we associate it with heat. On the other hand, we may say to ourselves following a loss of someone dear to us, ‘This happened as some form of punishment for me.’ So, you can see the danger in placing our understanding of existence solely in our power to interpret patterns or correlations.
OC talks today very specifically about making sure that we place our faith in a relationship with Christ for this very reason. We must understand that our Christ’s love for us does not change and that events that happen around us or to us do not always directly involve us. Remember that being a Christian does not absolve us from the brokenness of this world.
Thus, it is very important that when in ministry we do not fall into the trap of faith based on ‘testimony’. Christ does great works through us. That much is undeniable. However, a faith based on what Christ ‘does’ for us is no more likely to succeed than a marriage based on what a spouse ‘does’ for us. This is a shallow relationship that is likely to change with new encounters.
Instead, build your house on the rock of solid faith in Christ. A faith which will not shift when the storms blow the sand from other’s foundations.
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