I had a great conversation with some friends around a hookah tonight. Of course we jumped all over the place. But at once, one friend shared an excellent observation about faith. His faith specifically, but applicable to all honest faith, I think.

Faith cannot be because of the evidence; otherwise it wouldn’t be faith. But evidence can cause us to stand more firmly in the faith we hold.

I think this is an excellent observation. I didn’t search out the evidence supporting Christ’s lordship then make a logical decision to have faith. Rather, before I really knew what was going on, Christ changed me heart and faith was born. Now, I stand more confidently in my faith knowing that strong evidence also supports it.

I think this also is the trap of street-corner apologetics (so to speak). Souls are not won on the evidence, they’re won on the message.

So kudos to Zach for a thought provoking observation. And on that, lets try and save souls the way God would have us, with His message, rather than our argument.

Continuing in Tim Keller’s The Prodigal God, he has these thoughts to share:

“To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right. Pharisees only repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their righteousness, too. We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness–the sin of seeking to be our own savior and lord.”

Could it be that we’ve preached a message because of which our congregations have repented of the acts of their hands, but not the motivations of their heart? It sure would explain a lot.