Proportions of Faith

I see some patterns in this chapter (Romans 12) emerging that I want to flush out more into the open. There are phrases that, taken together all refer to what we need to receive to empower us. Then there are other things that we are to do with that empowerment and proportionally to it. Again, all of this activity must not be divorced from the original cause and reason for all of it – a keen and increasing awareness of the depth of the riches of God described in 11:33-36. Otherwise everything we read in chapter 12 becomes just another list to perform, another obligation to fulfill that will only result in frustrations.

In the first few verses Paul is modeling what he wants us to follow. He first of all urges us, because of his own awareness of the mercies of God as his motivation, to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice just as presumably he has done. Then he describes what that means and what it looks like throughout the rest of the chapter, in fact the rest of the book. But repeatedly throughout he reminds us that our sacrifice and service should always be proportional to the grace that we have first received and the level of real faith that our growing awareness of God's goodness has grown within our hearts. It is vital that we keep the cause ahead of the effects or we will slip right back into a legalistic mode of thinking and living instead of the spontaneous righteousness that flows naturally from the heart of a redeemed lover.

Filling our minds and hearts with fresh revelations of God's mercies and grace from His extravagant riches is the reason and motivation for us to present ourselves as a willing sacrifice in glad service through the gifts received from our God. This is in the context of being continually transformed by the renewing of our minds and discerning what the good and perfect will of God is and not from an attitude of conformity. Everything that follows must be viewed from and rooted in this solid ground of our growing and vibrant connection personally with God.

The next thing we must be careful to pay attention to in this context is to not allow ourselves to become once again unbalanced in our thinking. We must not allow our left brain intellectual analysis or formula mentality or problem solving penchant to eclipse our heart's need to keep a vital and constant focus on the source of our new life. To do so would be to fall back into the conformity model instead of the transformational lifestyle. Maybe this is why Paul repeatedly reminds us to exercise our gifts according to the proportion of our faith. If we attempt to exercise our gifts beyond the maturity of our faith – which is a description of how much our heart really trusts God in our life – we will be moving into the arena warned against in verse 3, of thinking too highly of ourself or just thinking too much period, out of proportion to where our heart is currently functioning.

I think I am beginning to get a little idea of what this might mean in my own experience. There are times when I suddenly become aware that my mind is running too far ahead of my heart and I have a choice to make at that point. I might be talking with someone or writing out thoughts that I feel compelled to share. But I get a sudden sense of uneasiness that alerts me that something is not quite right and that I need to stop my head and listen to my heart immediately.

It is easy to keep on going at that point because I am often confident that I can handle the situation and I can trust my ability and gifts to enable me to finish what I am in the middle of. But my heart warns me that I may be moving beyond my proportion of faith, my heart-connection with the Holy Spirit in that moment, and that it would be the wise thing to do to suspend immediately whatever it is I am doing and allow my heart to listen in quietness until I feel reconnected and reassured of my peace and my heart-link with God. I also know that when I instead choose to just finish what I am doing and then come back to pay full attention to my heart that the results are always a sense of disappointment and loss. I wonder if that is what Elijah felt like after his experience on Mount Carmel?

This passage (starting with 11:33) is a progressive unpacking of what a life will look like that is being transformed described in greater and greater detail. It reveals that we need to view this new life in the context of our need to utilize the gifts and skills received from God and within the context of nurturing others who are likewise being transformed around us. But like a measuring stick showing up over and over we are instructed to use these gifts according to the proportion of our faith and really no more beyond that.

That brings something interesting to my attention. What is wrong with exercising a gift beyond the faith I may currently have? Is that a problem that we might be able to observe that could be causing many of the problems today in the body of Christ? What would it look like to use a gift beyond our measure of faith? And might it even be difficult to discern this problem?

What might happen if a prophet should use the gift of prophecy beyond or outside his proportion of faith? That might be easy to identity (or maybe not) but what about a person who's gift is to serve others? How easy is it to get into Christian service without being motivated and inspired from a heart full of faith in response to the awesome goodness of God? It seems to me like we might have examples of this all over the place.

What about teaching and exhorting and giving? What about leadership and even the gift of being merciful? Is it a problem to exercise mercy without having a clear experience of receiving mercy ourselves? I think it might be very easy for anyone of us to want to perform any of these activities that might be our gifts outside the parameters of faith that naturally springs up from deep in a heart full of appreciation for what God is doing in our own lives. It is so easy to begin subtly relying on the good feedback we can get from exercising gifts as the measurement of our value and worth. I think we do it far more than most of us ever suspect. It takes a great deal of brutal self-honesty and conviction by the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how much we depend on what others think of us for our self-worth and value instead of solely on how much God values and cherishes us at the heart level.

I know that this is true in my own life. I am constantly becoming more and more aware of how much I crave being well thought of by others as a fix for my feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. It seems so much easier to get a good shot of pleasure and satisfaction from compliments on my performance or my helping someone than to focus my heart and mind on finding out what God thinks about me. These confirmations and assurances and praises from others are so much more tangible and immediate than spending the time unmasking the pain and fears in my soul before God and spending time in His Word and His presence. But like every other addiction this has the tell-tale signs of being an empty quick fix that tends to help me avoid facing the real issues much deeper in my life. These fixes are like tasty junk food full of very pleasing but empty calories that leave me more malnourished than I was before.

So I guess maybe trying to use our gifts outside the proportion of our faith is not such a good idea after all. It actually may act just like all other addictions and prevent us from building a more secure foundation for our life with God.

I believe there is also a great danger that is seen all too often, of pushing others to use their gifts beyond their proportion of faith. This can easily happen when praise is focused more on the person and their abilities than on the heart. But what is the difference between needed encouragement for the timid who need to express their faith more openly so it can grow even more, and undue praise for those who may be relying on our compliments as their false source of value? I believe that there is a valid and important place for real compliments and appreciation. I believe that we too often rob others of the assurances that they need that could encourage them to move much farther in their growth and increase their effectiveness in their gifts if they were just more appreciated. Where there is a counterfeit there is also always a genuine.

I believe that our lack of encouragement for others is a big reason we see so little growth of faith within the hearts of believers. That is one of the main reasons that God intends for us to bond much closer into the body of Christ; it is so that our gifts will be used to inspire others and remind them of their value to God and the value of their gifts from Him. Used correctly our gifts are to multiply, not only in our own life but by planting seeds in other lives that can spring up to produce more fruit. But whenever we loose sight of the fundamental reason and context from which we should always derive our worth, it is extremely easy to shift our source of perceived value over to a basis of performance or appearance instead of our growing awareness of God's love for us.

From my own experience I know the value of genuine affirmation that reminds me of my value to God. I also know how empty and uneasy I feel when I receive compliments and praise that focuses on me as if I was the originator of the gift instead of the receiver. I also know how awkward a person can feel when being confused between the two. There are those who feel compelled to remove all attention away from the ones exercising their gifts in fear that praise and appreciation will be detrimental to them and maybe even upsetting to God. I have sometimes been on the receiving end of this kind of this kind of fearful attitude and I can assure you that it does not encourage me to keep using my gifts. It may make the one commenting about me feel more righteous because they did not flatter me but it certainly did not encourage me.

I remember many years ago struggling with this very issue and even asking a person I had never met what she thought about it. I had just visited a different church and had been richly blessed by her piano playing. I wanted to let her know how much it inspired and blessed me for I also had many times been on the other side of that equation without receiving any affirmations. I knew how much I needed this kind of encouragement myself and I felt it was only fair that a person should receive legitimate affirmation for blessing others with their gift. So I explained my dilemma to this lady and asked her what she thought was the right thing to do.

She gave me a most helpful answer that I have never forgotten because of its deep wisdom and insight. She said that if someone's praise and appreciation was focused only on her abilities and skill that she felt it was inappropriate as far as trying to live in the context of praise to God goes. Also, just saying, “Praise the Lord for your talents” or some other such deflective comment leaves one feeling that the person is trying to avoid recognizing you and is more concerned with not saying the wrong thing. What she told me that means the most to her, and what has been confirmed in my own heart ever since she told me this, is for a person to express to her honest appreciation for the skills and effort put forth by the musician (or whatever gift is being used) and then relaying to them the effect that it had on their heart and how much it inspired them to feel closer to God.

When I heard this I immediately knew that this would be the most fulfilling affirmation that someone could give me. It would acknowledge legitimate appreciation for the exercise of my gift while at the same time give me deep satisfaction that my efforts had done just what I really wanted them to do – to attract a heart to move closer to God's heart. I guess what this really means is that if a compliment or affirmation is expressed much more in heart terms than based on externals then its value and effectiveness to encourage the one exercising their gifts will be uplifting and motivate them to use their gift even more eloquently. One does not need to be fearful of inducing pride by showing genuine appreciation if they are honest about what effect the blessing had on their own heart. Otherwise the fear mingled into the appreciation really nullifies the intended effect of the gratitude and the person pretending to appreciate is more focused on themselves and their fears than on encouraging another.

What we all need most is genuine and effective reminders of how much God values and loves and cherishes us. And I believe we need to do everything possible to directly connect to Him to receive those assurances. But I also believe He intends to send those messages to us through others who perceive our gifts and are blessed by them. The greatest compliment any of us can receive for the use of our gifts is repeated affirmations of how valuable we are to God, not because of our gift but because of how He feels about us. In fact, maybe that is the real purpose of every one of these gifts – to remind each other of how God feels about us and how much passion He has in His desire to transform and restore us into close fellowship with Him and the whole family of heaven.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly...according to the proportion of his faith. (Romans 12:6)

(next in series)