Belief & Behavior
If you walk with God long enough you will discover your actions don’t always reflect what you claim to believe. Our actions often betray our confession of faith. Shouldn’t our behavior always perfectly mirror our theology? Why is it that sometimes—even if we consider ourselves to be spiritually mature—our hearts betray us?
The answer lies in the reality of the struggle between Christ and the nature of sin we all battle. Without the cleansing of the blood of Jesus and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, we are without hope, enslaved to the lusts of our flesh and the powers of darkness. We all have the capacity to commit heinous acts and vile sins. John Calvin wrote, “We have seen that the lordship of sin, having overcome the first man, made the whole of humanity its slaves.”[1] None of us can escape being included in Cavlin’s description of humanity. Without Jesus Christ, our fallen nature propels us toward a lifetime of disappointing behavior, with eternal damnation as the only justified penalty for our sin. And while believers have the power to live above sin, the reality is we still possess a sinful nature that we will battle until we die.
The apostle Paul examined himself and declared, “I know that nothing good dwells in me” (Romans 7:18). He then says he has the desire to do what is right but lacks the ability to accomplish it. This is the quandary in the lives of millions of people. This is why it’s possible to believe something and it still doesn’t affect your behavior. You don’t have the ability to do what you believe. The will exists inside of you, but the power does not.
We don’t have to look far to see examples of people’s lifestyles not matching their beliefs. People know eating poorly will likely result in serious health issues, and yet they still make unhealthy choices. Breaking the speed limit may result in a ticket, and yet people exceed the limit without giving it any thought. We are irrational creatures, servants to our emotions and impulses to a much greater degree than we want to admit. The market is full of self-help books and seminars designed to guide us to a place of discipline and order, and yet people remain in chaos and disorder. These tools have their place in our lives and may sometimes help, but nothing can create true, lasting change like the transforming power of the gospel.
One of the saddest observations in my ministry has been watching people walk away from God and the church. They know the road they’re traveling will lead to heartache in this life and damnation in eternity, yet they continue to stumble toward destruction, aware of the consequences that await them. Shouldn’t this knowledge change their behavior? Isn’t the idea of spending eternity in a place of torment enough to change their ways? The truth, as I have witnessed in countless lives, is that simply having a belief about something is not enough to produce change. People believe in hell and still rebel against God.
As a young man, I watched my pastor many times stand in the pulpit and put his fingers on both sides of his head. He would say, “The greatest battle you will ever fight is between these two points,” illustrating the battlefield of the mind is where the war is won or lost. We are our own worst enemy, reverting to self-destructive habits as a coping mechanism to deal with the battles of life. We often do the exact opposite of what is good for us. The person that takes their first hit of crack cocaine does so knowing it is the first step down a slippery slope of destruction and despair, yet they do it anyway. It sounds stupid, ignorant, and foolish, and it is. We are all held captive by the stupidity of sin. Our default position in this world is bondage.
Pulpits across America are neglecting several doctrines, including the doctrine of sin. The self-destructive cancer of sin embedded deep in our spiritual DNA is destroying countless lives and families. We can’t help ourselves. We are slaves to our own nature. This is the tone of Romans 7, where at the end of the chapter, Paul cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). We must confess like Paul we too are sinful, hopeless people without Jesus Christ.
A beam of light breaks through the darkness in the opening words of the next chapter as Paul exhorts, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1). This freedom is found only through obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection rescue us from the brutal condemnation of Satan and our own conscience. Only through the cross of Christ are we made righteous. We are hopeless without Jesus, but through the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and through the justification we receive by faith in Christ, we can live free from guilt and condemnation as we continue to grow in our faith.
[1] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. Robert White, 1541st edition. (Banner of Truth, 2014), 38.