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September 16, 2024

Healthy Faith

by Jason Neill

Scripture reading: Daniel 3:1-30; 6:1-28; Matthew 6:1-18

Last week we discussed the concept of toxic faith. I thought it would be appropriate to address the other side of the coin, healthy faith. Arterburn and Felton devoted nine out of ten chapters to defining and describing toxic faith, but only one chapter on healthy faith. I felt hungry for more after reading their book for the first time. I wanted to know more about how to cultivate a healthy faith but there was only one chapter committed to explaining it. Fortunately, they came out with a sequel to their book Toxic Faith in 2000 called More Jesus, Less Religion: Moving from rules to relationship. I love that title! It speaks to everything I want my faith to be and move toward in my spiritual walk. 

The eighteen characteristics of a healthy faith are as follows: focused on God, growing, respectful, free to serve, self-worthy, vulnerable, trusting, individualized, relationship oriented, personal, balanced, non-defensive, non-judgmental, reality based, able to embrace our emotions, able to embrace our humanity, loving, and growing in faith.

Since I cannot speak to all of these, let me pick two. The first characteristic I want to direct your attention to is reality based. This is the idea that we deal with reality as we experience it. We don’t try to deny it, push it out of awareness, or rationalize it. A healthy faith is one that recognizes that God is in charge even amid difficulties. We may pray that God would remove our circumstances, but we are okay if God doesn’t because we know He will bring us through the trial. A perfect example of this is Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego found in Daniel 3. These three guys refused to bow down to an idolatrous image set up by their government for the purpose of worship because it violated the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3, ESV).

Even after being threatened with death as the penalty for disobedience, they replied “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18, ESV). These believers faced reality with courage and fortitude.

Daniel is another example of reality-based faith (see Daniel 6). Biblical scholars inform us that Daniel was probably around 80 years of age at this point. He regularly prayed three times a day; however, the government established a law that no one could pray except those prayers directed toward the king. Daniel, with full knowledge of the consequences, disobeyed the law and his penalty was to be thrown in a pit with hungry lions. The outcome? God delivered Daniel through the trial instead of from it. Daniel and his friend’s faith was based on reality.

A second characteristic of healthy faith is vulnerability. A synonym I like to use is “authentic.” Religious people put on a mask, use religious phrases, attend religious events, relate to other religious people but it is all a hoax. These interactions lack authenticity. This is the kind of behavior Jesus warned about in His sermon on the mount (see Matthew 5-7). He listed three spiritual activities in chapter 6: namely, giving to the needy, praying, and fasting. He cautioned those that carry out such spiritual practices to do so secretly. In His day, too many religious addicts (i.e., the Pharisees) practiced these spiritual disciplines in public to be seen by people. They wanted others to see how “spiritual” they were and how they were devoted to God. A vulnerable faith, by contrast, does not seek to hide behind religious rituals, but instead is willing to share its imperfections with others. We are real regarding the parts of our walk with Christ that are going well in addition to where we sense we need help. 

Developing a healthy faith takes time and effort. The first step is recognizing the elements of a toxic faith, second, admitting them to God, third, changing those beliefs, fourth, perhaps sharing them with a trusted friend or friends and encouraging them to embrace a healthy faith. My prayer for those of you who read this post is that you will cultivate a faith that is reality based and authentic. Anything less than that is pseudo-Christianity.

For more on this topic, I would encourage you to read More Jesus, Less Religion: Moving from rules to relationship by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton.