How do I Acquire Searching Faith?

For as long as you have been a Christian, you have been counseled to go to church, read your Bible, pray, and have fellowship with others in the kingdom. These are good habits for life, but it is so crucial for us to not only know the right things we should be doing but also the reason for doing them.

Understanding the process and importance of faith development provides you with an incentive for forming these good habits. Your faith needs to be growing. Remember your motivation that we talked about in the first chapter. God wants you to grow. Know why you want to grow in your faith.

It is not enough just to say you have faith. The Jews that Jesus spoke to in John 8:31 believed in Him:

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

- John 8:31

By using the word "if," Jesus inferred that they were not continuing in His word and not yet disciples of His although they believed in Him.

In the next verse He further explains, "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Note His use of the future tense. In the future they would know the truth. That meant they did not have the truth yet. In the future, the truth would set them free. Implication: they were not free yet.

These Jews understood fully Jesus' point that they were not freed by the truth yet and they had objections about it in verse 33. "We are Abraham's descendants" ... "how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?" The Jews were thinking of physical bondage, but Jesus was speaking of freedom from sin and said so in verse 34: "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." He was offering to set them free from their slavery to sin, "yet you are seeking to kill Me, because My word has no place in you." 8:37.

These Jews believed in Jesus. They had faith, but when He admonished them to search out the truth and know it, they rejected the deeper faith He was offering and wanted to kill him. What happened to their "faith?"

They believed Jesus was the Messiah, but did not trust Him enough to accept His path of truth. They didn't want to break out of their comfort zones and find out the truth about how shallow their relationship with God truly was. Consequently, they never experienced the freedom that comes from knowing the truth, v. 32.

Are there people today who believe in Christ, but are not saved because their lack of faith is preventing them from fully accepting the truth? You know the answer. This spiritual condition is not only probable, it's unexceptional. Is this the condition you find yourself in today? It may be time for you to venture out on the limb and take a closer look at where you are at in your walk with God. You may have faith, but have you ever searched out your faith and owned it for yourself?

Many honest Christians will come to realize they have Affiliating Faith. It's hard to admit they have never searched out their own system of beliefs, but it is often true. Rather they base their beliefs on doctrine received from others.

If you have come to realize your faith is most likely Affiliating Faith than it is time to move on to a higher spiritual plain. Here are steps you can take to graduate to that next echelon, Searching Faith. First ask yourself three questions.

1. Put foremost in your mind the person who has had the greatest impact on you spiritually. It could be a church leader, a parent, a spouse, the person who led you to Christ... This should be someone you believe to have rock-solid faith. Do not read any further until you have a specific person in mind.

Now ask yourself, "If this person stopped coming to church, would I keep going?" Perhaps it is inconceivable to you that this person could walk away from the Lord, but that's not the point. If they did lose their conviction to follow God, could you go on without them? As unthinkable as this might sound, you have to put yourself in a position so that your relationship with Jesus is not dependent on the spiritual well-being of any other individual.

That doesn't mean you don't need other Christians involved in your life. You and I do need each other, or God would not have created the church. But as long as your walk with God depends on how well another soul's walk with God is going, you are at risk of losing your faith.

What was Christ trying to make us understand when He said,

“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.

- Luke 14:26

Jesus certainly did not mean we must despise or look down on our family members, which is part of what our English word "hate" means. No, the word the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to use here refers to a comparison of relationship.

If you want to be a disciple of Christ, He needs to be loved by you far above all other relationships in your life. If you do not make that commitment, Jesus Himself says you cannot be His disciple, period. It won't work. We appreciate the affiliations we have within the Lord's body, but in order to have Searching Faith you have to be willing to go on with or without the support of others. Prepare yourself to press forward no matter what others may do.

2. Ask yourself this question: "I know what I believe, but do I know why I believe it?" Have you honestly thought through what your beliefs are based on? Coming to Christ, you received instruction through some type of affiliation but now that you are older in the Lord it is time to search God's Word and make God's Word what your belief system is based on. Until you are willing to examine the doctrines you hold to and own them for yourself, you will continue to have Affiliating Faith.

3. Ask yourself, "Am I willing to change what I believe if the Bible says differently?" Our own stubborn pride is what prevents us from growing up spiritually. We hate to admit when we are wrong. If you are confident that God's Word is right and it contradicts what you believe, then guess what? You need a faith lift. Either the Bible needs to change or what you believe needs to change, and the Bible is not going to change.

It's time to take a Berean approach to your faith.

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

- Acts 17:11

The Berean progression of Searching Faith means you search the Scriptures humbly admitting you could be wrong about traditions you have long held to be true. You don't have to abandon all that you believe and start over. Just decide that nothing is sacred except the Holy Word and that alone must be the determining factor for what you believe.

After you have dealt with these three questions, you are ready to start moving forward in your Searching Faith. The greatest single thing you could do to strengthen your faith is to learn to share it with others. There is no better way to get young Christians to grow than by encouraging them to talk to others about Christ. There is nothing that gets older Christians pumped up and excited about Jesus as much as when they extend to others the opportunity to know Christ. Whether you are a young Christian or you have been a Christian for quite some time, you need to be sharing your faith.

When Paul was spiritually nurturing the faith of his young comrade Philemon, he told him,

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.
- Philemon 1:6 NIV

When we share what we believe with others, we often find ourselves having to confirm our beliefs to those we are studying with. That causes us to search for ourselves the things we believe.

When I was a young Christian in college I was trying to reach out to a classmate and encourage him to come to church with me. He told me that he believed God was in his heart, and that he didn't need to go to church to worship God. I really didn't have a good answer for him at the time. I had to go back to God's Word and search out the purpose of attending church services, and the next time that subject came up I was prepared to explain from scripture why assembling with God's family was so important.

Sharing your faith makes you search, which causes you to grow. Whether we are talking spiritually or physically, feeding others is a sign of true maturity. Newborn babies cannot feed themselves. They need others to look after them and keep them alive. As we mature, we learn to feed ourselves and eventually how to feed others. When you have participated in leading a lost soul to Jesus you are feeding others. Nothing will be more faith building to you than seeing that person surrender their lives to Christ.

Learning to talk with people about spiritual subjects will help you acquire Searching Faith. The experience of others gives you food for thought and more motivation to go back to the Word and check out what is consistent with scripture and what is not.

This does not mean using your beliefs as a basis for starting arguments. Decide right now that any time you are communicating with another person on a spiritual subject you will not let it digress into an argument. Philippians 2:14 says, "Do all things without complaining or arguments." "All things" certainly includes talking to others about Jesus. Discuss, listen and learn. Don't argue.

The best place to talk to people about Jesus is at church assemblies, at least it should be. During fellowship times, before and after services, ask others about how they are doing spiritually. Find out what others are studying in the Bible and if they are reaching out to any of their friends. Ask if you can be praying for them about anything.

There is nothing wrong with talking to Christians about weather, sports, work, etc., but if that is all we talk about, how deep is our faith? We need to have the kind of relationships with brethren that we can converse on a spiritual plain. If we cannot do that at our assemblies, where are we going to do it? Talk to brothers about Christ so you can talk to others about Christ.

Another way to help yourself grow as a searcher is to read some good books and listen to some good recorded messages. Extra-biblical material is not the same as God's inspired Word, but good books can help you explore new ways of thinking about God. Recorded sermons and classes can challenge you to look at an old favorite scripture in a new light. If you disagree with the speaker or writer, you can search out the reasons why you disagree.

I have read books, some by authors I don't necessarily agree with, and gained insights or learned ministry skills that have been greatly beneficial. When you read books or listen to speakers you want to be open to some different ideas but be careful you do not accept ideas that are contrary to God's Word. It is prudent to keep in mind that old proverb: "Do not be too open-minded or your brains will fall out."

Anyone with Affiliating Faith needs to avoid questionable books and recordings altogether. They are at greater risk of affiliating with a potentially damaging doctrine. We should try to protect affiliating believers from false religions as much as we can. But I am not as concerned about those who are spending quality time searching God's Word for truth and are prepared to weed out false doctrine allowing them to benefit from the insights of extra-biblical writing.

One of the worst mistakes you can make with regards to your spiritual growth is to wait for someone else to stir you to growth. Take matters into your own hands and be responsible for how you are doing spiritually.

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

- II Corinthians 13:5

Take personally Paul's admonition to the Corinthians to test yourself. Don't wait for something to happen to you or someone to get you off the fence. Set out on a course of introspection to see where you are in your relationship with Christ. Test the doctrines you have come to accept and see whether they can truly be supported by Scripture.

Finally, make sure your searching is focused on getting to know Jesus in a deeper way. You need to keep clear in your own mind what the objective is here. What are you "searching" for? The book of Hebrews was written initially for Jews (Hebrews) who had become Christians but had lost sight of their goal. They were even thinking about going back to Judaism. After explaining why it would be spiritual suicide to leave the Christian faith, the Hebrew writer than describes the benefits of,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

- Hebrews 12:2

"What if searching leads me off on a wild tangent and actually weakens my faith?" The answer to that is simple. Fix your eyes on Jesus. He is "the author and perfecter of faith." When your focus starts drifting away from the center and main objective of your searching, draw your eyes back to Him. If searching weakens your faith, you're doing it wrong. Seek to know Him in a deeper way.

There you have it. So now you know what you need to do. Ask yourself if your relationship with Christ is overly dependent on relationships you have with others. Share your faith. Talk to fellow Christians about spiritual matters. Read some good books and listen to some good messages.

Most importantly, focus on growing closer to Jesus. He's the reason we are doing all of this. Were it not for Jesus, searching would be meaningless. Do these things and your faith will grow from Affiliating Faith to Searching Faith.