My son and I are going through a book called Comforting Hearts, Teaching Minds. This book goes through the Heidelberg Catechism. It takes one Lord Day and then takes one to two weeks to talk about it Monday through Saturday. We aren’t going through it fast because I’ve the brain of sieve sometimes, but we are making steady progress.
Today’s reading from The Faith-Shaped Life by Ian Hamilton brought this book to mind for me. Today Mr. Hamilton talked about the importance of doctrine and how it’s a foundation for our faith. The more we understand the basic truths of our faith, the more surety we have in our faith.
The more we understand God’s unyielding commitment to his covenant people, the more we understand his faithfulness to the rebellious sinful people that we are, the more we know our faith will stand. Just stop and think about that for a moment.
I know that I needed to.
You see, my faith … I always question it eh? I always wonder if somehow, just maybe I am deluding myself, that perhaps my faith in God is just a figment of my imagination somehow, that even though I seek after him, and want to be more of the person I know he has called me to be, the daily “I forgot to pray”, “I didn’t do _____” , “I reacted angrily instead of with _______”, and the so ons and so forths of life. They batter at me ALL THE TIME.
Then God comes along and he finds a way to remind me of his steadiness. Oh his constant steadiness is a balm for my soul. And as I go through the catechism and I’m reminded of the great truths of scripture.
God’s unwavering love for me.
God calling ME his very own.
God saying he has a purpose for me.
God saying he will NEVER EVER leave me, or forsake me or leave me to my own devices.
God demanding that I imitate him in my life.
The more I see these truths spelled out in ALL their permutations, the more my faith is bolstered.
Even the simple truth of “Those who seek him will find him”. THAT is surety.
The more truths of God that you know, the more help you have in times of trouble or prosperity. It’s just the way it is. So we shouldn’t veer off from teaching the catechisms and the doctrines of our faith. We need to own them, teach them, live them out, let our children see these truths so that in time, they too can make them their own.
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