Faith vs. Positive Thinking

Far too many Christians mistake the notion of positive thinking with true faith in the God of Scripture. The pastor calls the people to believe the promises of God, to trust in the Lord, to overcome sin, and so on, and many Christians think that the pastor is suggesting that they try a little harder, they look deep down inside and find something positive, and just keep on thinking optimistically. This is why plenty of people leave the church and others want nothing to do with the church, because the church is full of optimistic little engines who think they can. But the Christian faith is not a mental gimmick or an emotional magic trick. The Christian faith is the only real and true way of being human. It is real and true communion with the Triune God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, and with His world and the new humanity in the church. We are not pretending that everything is fixed all around us; we are not pretending that we have no problems, no issues, no sins. And after a while, all the pretenders are disappointed to find out that there are just as many sinners inside the church as outside the church. No, the Kingdom of God is the beginning of a new world. The Church is the family of God where brokenness begins to heal, where the lonely begin to find friendship, where orphans begin to be adopted, where widows begin to find cared, where we tell the truth about the poison of sin, and cry out to God for His merciful deliverance and care. That is why we are here. We are here because we need grace. We have just prayed that God would have mercy upon us and upon the whole world, and that is why we are here. We need mercy and grace. And faith is the gift of being able to approach the throne of grace with confidence that there will be grace.