Faith and Relationship

As far as I can see, the Christian lifestyle is comprised of two intimately related aspects: faith and relationship.

Recently, I've noticed that there are times when I am able to apply and utilize wisdom (like writing this blog, for example), but feel far from God. Or, on the other hand, there are times when Jesus and I are really close, but my faith is faulty and fearful. I was talking to one of my friends earlier this month, and they mentioned that they feel as if their prayer life is great but they are less inclined to read the Bible, or that they read the Bible and gain a lot of wisdom, but their prayer life fades. Why do we see one or the other play a dominant role in our lives? What causes the scales to shift? How can we embrace both faith and relationship together? Hopefully, a few of the answers can arise in the following post. 

First of all, what is faith? Hebrews 11 tells us: "Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for; the proof of what is not seen," (Hebrews 11:1, HCSB). Put simply, it's knowing that God is real, and that He's for us - not against us - even when bad things happen or trials arise. 

Even more practically, faith is what I see as the "do-er" of the Christian lifestyle. We often attribute one's faith to the hope they have in hard times, as well as the willingness to do crazy things for Jesus - like pack up and move to a foreign country for the sake of the Gospel. It's more visible, more apparent, and seems to be the aspect that gets stuff done. Jesus once told His disciples: "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20, HCSB). 

Relationship, on the other hand, is the behind-the-scenes aspect; it comforts the soul, empowers the weak, and enlightens those who seek wisdom. The best way to learn about our God is to have a relationship with Him; one can study and observe and predict someone's behavior all they want, but it's only once they meet that they can understand each other.

In addition, relationship helps God understand our hearts. While He knows everything about us already, there is something sacred that He cherishes in the outpouring of a heart. Psalm 51:17 says, "The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart," (HCSB).

Relationship requires us to meet with God, while faith requires us to act - to go forth - on what God has put on our hearts. As I said earlier, the two are intimately connected. Relationship builds faith by assuring us of the presence of our God and bringing God's will to us, and faith builds relationship by allowing us to see God's power outpoured in our lives. 

It takes faith to believe the Bible's word is true. It takes relationship to have a testimony. The Bible grows our relationship with our God, and our testimony is evidence of our faith. Can you see the connection? These ties between relationship and faith are everywhere.

So, why then do we notice one's impact on our life more than another during certain seasons of our life? Some of it, I think, can be attributed simply to time; we often work ourselves into a corner where we can either grow our faith or our relationship. Also, it has to do with what we've experienced recently. When we see people have an incredible relationship with God, we desire that 'next level' relationship as well, and take steps to grow our own. Similarly, when we see great acts of faith, we want to get ours to the next level. This desire seems to drive sanctification; it is God's will for us that we become more like Him, and He puts a desire in our hearts to become what we haven't yet achieved. 

However, relationship and faith aren't inversely related - or, at least, they shouldn't be - rather, they are directly related, one growing as the other grows, and one diminishing as the other diminishes. Christian rapper Flame in his song "Hold On" calls faith a 'muscle,' and I think it's safe to say that the same is true for relationship. They must be worked on, built, and challenged before they'll grow (and they'll weaken if we don't 'use' them). Doing the same thing over and over again won't grow us, rather, we need to change and challenge our faith and relationship in ways that will cause them to grow closer to Christ's likeness.

Although we tend to notice one or the other, the fact is that both are grown or weakened, though not necessarily equally. My youth pastor likens our lives to driving: simply letting go of the wheel makes a car veer off a straight path, even if the wheels were pointed straight ahead. Instead, we have to keep our hands on the wheel and tweak the steering slightly to keep the car straight. We aren't turning all left or all right, but changing the course slightly because we won't have relative balance otherwise.

When we notice that we're stronger in one aspect more than another, perhaps it's time to lean the other direction. There have been many times in my own life where my relationship with God was going great, but my faith was complacent and easy, or my faith was challenged and grown, but my relationship with God was hard to find.

Relationship and faith are two sides of the same coin. We can't have one without the other; both are grown or weakened at the same time, but not necessarily equally. Our God-given desire to grow our faith or relationship drive sanctification. Faith is the easier to see "do-er" aspect, while relationship is harder to see in others and acts behind the scenes — Jesus retreated when He needed to talk to His father, and only priests could enter the temple. However, both relationship and faith are needed to #LiveItLikeJesus.