The Initial Incident of Your Faith

When I was six years old I accepted Jesus into my heart. In Christian lingo, that means that I made a choice to become a Christian and accept having a relationship with God. I don’t remember every detail of that moment, but what I do remember is that my mom was there with me, it was before bed one night, and I knew in my heart the confession I was proclaiming. That night, as I cried with my mom and experienced a powerful touch from Jesus, I knew and believed in Jesus, that He is God, that He loves me, and that I am a sinner who Jesus died for and saved. And then, many years later, high school happened. I could list a ton of reasons why high school was a good experience for me: I had great friends, I was a super committed band nerd (I loved every second of playing my clarinet and saxophone) and I excelled in school. I mean, I wasn’t like a 90% average student who didn’t need to try (those of you out there who this is referring to, you know who you are . . . ). I was more like a ‘try my hardest and achieve honors’ kind of student. A lot of things went really well for me in high school, but my relationship with God really struggled. When I was in grade ten I injured my knee playing soccer and I needed knee surgery. The eight months leading from my injury to my surgery ushered me into a difficult slump. I questioned God and his sovereignty as I struggled through this hard season. I wanted nothing to do with God and I made sure to tell Him that He didn’t exist (I still laugh at how ridiculous that sounds . . . ). In the midst of that moment I thought that my relationship with God had completely dissipated and fizzled out. It was as if I pushed pause on God for a year and then, when I was ready to jump back into being a Christian again, He was ready again too. But, looking back, I see that year of “not believing in God” was really a year of faith refining and learning to not just believe in God but become a person who believes God. That year God talked to me for the first time and, in the midst of my pain, He showed me how He had been caring for me all along, even though I could not see all that He was doing. This moment changed my life and my relationship with God.

Kids who grow up in the church hearing about Jesus their whole lives often need a faith defining moment like the one I just described for myself. Not all of them need this (God only knows!), but I hear a ton of stories from students who grew up in church and, in their teenage or early young adults years, God used a crisis, hardship or defining moment of clarity as a turning point to draw them into Himself. This crisis gives rise to a deeper, more independent faith commitment where they choose to follow God for themselves rather than for their parents. In the world of writing we call this crisis the “initial incident”. When writing a book, authors will often write this initial incident near the beginning of the protagonist’s story. This incident disturbs the life of the protagonist and sets the stage for the rest of the book – leading the protagonist to pursue his/her life mission vigorously. For example, Batman’s initial incident was the brutal murder of his parents in front of him as a child. This experience fueled the Gotham superhero’s life-long devotion of fighting crime and made for a ton of great movies! Batman’s initial incident set him on his life-long mission. As Christians, our initial incident has the power to move us from merely believing in God to believing God and developing a deeper faith . . . a faith that moves from our head (knowing God) to our heart (loving and trusting God). For some, that happens the moment they believe in Jesus. For others, it comes later on. Whether you became a Christian as a child or later on in life, the need to experience an ‘initial incident’ to propel you on in your faith and in the mission of Christ is so important. Some incidents might be more subtle than others, but there is always a turning point where we choose to trust God and go deeper with Him. What’s your initial incident?

There is a difference between believing in God and believing God. Yes, on paper it’s simply the difference of one word, but in our heart and soul it is the difference of salvation. Believing in God is simply that – believing that He exists. But, simply knowing God exists or knowing that Jesus is the Son of God does not lead to salvation.

“You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe – and they shudder.”

James 2:19

Abraham didn’t simply believe God existed, but he trusted God with his life. Abraham’s ‘initial incident’ was God’s call on his life (Genesis 12). When God told Abraham to leave his family and go to a new land, he was seventy-five years old! The Lord told him to go, to trust Him and to leave everything that he knew. Scripture says: “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him . . .” (Genesis 12:4). This moment of crisis and obedience to believe God and live into that shaped the rest of his life. From this moment on, he entered into a crazy journey with God. One where God would make promises and things would happen (or not happen for a long time!) and Abraham would have to choose to trust and follow. Abraham communed with God and had relationship with Him so that he could know the things God said. He believed God and that was credited to him as righteousness (salvation and right standing before God). Abraham let God into his heart to live life with him and he also gave his heart to God.

“So then does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard – just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness? You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons. Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed through you.’ Consequently those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.”

Galatians 3:5-9

I think there are people attending our churches who would, unknowingly, be sitting in the ‘believing in’ seat rather than the ‘believing’ one. In the church, from the time we are young, we are told to accept Jesus into our hearts. Now, there is nothing wrong with that language! I am a Children’s Pastor and use a variation of that wording with the kids at my church. But, we need to break down what that means – not just for the kids in the room, but for the adults as well. You see, accepting Jesus into your heart is not just believing in Him. That is a part of it and definitely the launching point for faith. But, believing God is that next step further. It means taking Him at His word and living out His Truths. When you truly believe something (or don’t believe in something) it impacts the way you live your life. In Matthew 7, Jesus shares a word picture to emphasize that our actions will always match our heart motives:

“Be on guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit . . . A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will have my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 7:15,16a, 18-21

Take a moment to evaluate the fruit in your life. Is this fruit showing those around you that believe God and have a relationship with Him, or is it showing that you trust more in yourself or in the world? I am not saying prove yourself or work for your salvation. I am saying that a dangerous trap that Satan can push us into is a the trap that leads us to believe that we are saved when we are not. To keep us living our comfortable, unchanged lives solely believing in God rather than risking everything and living as a changed person because you believe God. Only you can evaluate for yourself where your heart is.

Francis Chan, in his newest book Letters to the Church, invites us to ask similar ‘check your heart’ kinds of questions. He says this:

“Forget what you have been told about praying a prayer and asking Jesus to be your personal Savior. Read what Jesus demanded and ask yourself whether you still want to follow Him. There is no misinterpreting what Christ was calling for. This is why He had so few disciples.”

Francis Chan: Letters to the Church

When we share the Gospel with people and ask them to invite Jesus into their hearts to be their savior, do we share with them that they will have to give everything up? Do we communicate the risk when we share the reward of salvation and restored relationship with God? The words of Jesus to His disciples “Come, and follow Me” were more than an invitation to believe in Him, but an invitation to LIVE like Him: To bear fruit, to deny yourself and to pick up your cross daily. A challenge to take your belief that God exists and that Jesus is Lord and Savior and to let those things transform you through the power of the Holy Spirit. This initial incident moves us from merely believing in God to trusting in God and believing His way is the best way. His Words are true and transformative and He asks us to walk in the narrow, difficult path . . . the path that Jesus Himself has already walked. That is what it means to be a disciple and that’s what it means to believe God and to move into the initial incident of your faith and to live a changed life for Jesus.

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple . . . So therefore, any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:25-27, 33

Written by: Justine Joy