Dennis Peacocke considers whether Christians live what they believe under pressure

Dennis Peacocke
Dennis Peacocke

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." - Matthew 7:24

I have often said that life is a journey of moving from believing to knowing. There are many things I "believe", but I don't "know" something until I will act upon what I say I believe, both consistently, and especially, under pressure. The following story is told to illustrate this point:

A man takes a wheel barrow across Niagara Falls on a tight rope in both directions, once full of rocks and with a precious cargo of glassware. He then asks, "Who believes I can do this with a small child in the wheel barrow?" Virtually everyone says that they believe he can. He then asks, "For a thousand dollars, who will put their child in my wheel barrow to do so?" There were no takers...

They were "believers", but not "knowers". Knowing is believing in action.

We Christians are now standing before our Niagara Falls relative to what we believe about what Jesus taught on the yeasting power of the Kingdom of God in society. Can and will the Kingdom of God come to a mature harvest amidst the tons of an increasingly sick and secularized society, or will that secularized society smother out the wheat of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:24-43)? All true Christians "believe" in Jesus and in the Bible, but does their belief pass the test of knowing amidst real-time challenges? Granted, the Scripture speaks of "light in Goshen and darkness in Egypt" (Exodus 10:21-23; Isaiah 60:1-5), but amidst both tensions and opposite forces colliding, will God's Kingdom leaven the nations before Christ returns as Christ clearly indicated, particularly in Matthew, chapter 13? Does your believing line up with how your knowing is guiding you to live right now in these days of increasing social chaos?

On April 4-6 2013 in Santa Rosa, CA, we are holding a conference on the subject of how to "Walk the Walk". Numbers of leaders will be there to gather around this general theme. All of us will be challenged by "God the Wheel Barrow Walker", in terms of what we truly believe and are modelling to those following us. I love the part of reality that says, "put up or shut up," at least most of the time. Yet, the journey from believing to knowing can indeed be very, very uncomfortable. Over these coming years, it is going to be "show and tell" - another way of saying the same thing. The real believers will become the real leaders, my friend, and that is...

...the bottom line. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.