If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32, NIV).
I had a golf instructor recently explained to me why teaching golf is so challenging. He said there is typically a gap between the student’s perception and what is actually happening. He added, “The student’s perception is not often reality.”
Because we are incapable of seeing the entirety of our swing, we all need a tune up now and then from someone who can evaluate what we are doing from multiple perspectives. It’s vital we have an objective point of view if we hope to maintain the fundamentals of the golf swing. If not, we end up captive to bad swing thoughts which lead to poor results.
Our spiritual lives follow a similar process. We often get trapped in our own personal experiences and unable see beyond our limited thinking. We carry around wrong ideas about God and ourselves that lead to poor execution in life. Practically this looks like disruptive moods, unjustified fear and anxiety, unhealthy expectations, wrong attitudes, little faith, and unwise behavior.
Christian tradition can work as an anchor in the turbulent sea of news and social media that we battle daily.John Wesley (1703-1791), the English clergyman and evangelist, offers a method for freeing us from our destructive assumptions while maintaining an accurate view God and ourselves. Wesley provides four sources that both direct and balance our spiritual lives: scripture, tradition, reason, and Christian experience. Wesley saw faith as a stool with these four sources as supportive legs, each equally important. Wesley believed that; “…the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.”
SCRIPTURE
The Reformers emphasized that scripture alone (Sola Scriptura) is our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Scripture, they declared, is the whole counsel of God. An ongoing and growing understanding of the Bible and its redemptive history is vital for salvation, a growing faith, and an abundant life.
TRADITION
Christina tradition is a collection of those practices or beliefs associated with the Christian faith from the last 2000 years. It includes historic teachings of the Church Fathers, Protestant Reformers, as well as the historical creeds. There is not a contemporary idea or heresy that has not been considered and worked through by our forefathers in the faith. Christian tradition offers a wealth of knowledge that can help us navigate the mass of information we process in our digital age. Christian tradition can work as an anchor in the turbulent sea of news and social media that we battle daily.
REASON
Without reason we cannot understand the essential truths of Scripture. Reason, however, is not a mere human invention. It must be enlightened by the Holy Spirit if we are to understand the mysteries of God. Wesley said, “Although reason cannot produce faith, when impartial reason speaks we can understand the new birth, inward holiness, and outward holiness.” Reason works as an aid in our apprehension of the truths of scripture. It makes sense of our salvation (personal experience) and the Christian world view.
EXPERIENCE
What Christianity promises (considered as a doctrine) is accomplished in the soul. Although tradition and scripture can seem copious and complex, experience is simple: “One thing I know; I was blind, but now I see.” Experience allows the truth of scripture to live in us no matter the level of our understanding. Great faith in combination with a one simple truth can revolutionize a life. Volumes of knowledge cannot save us, for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. (Ephesian 2:8, NIV)
A balanced golf swing requires outside perspective from an expert. A balanced spiritual life requires a balance of resources that illuminate, direct, and safeguard our faith. The scripture is our authority; Christian tradition our proven historic, commentary; reason our intellectual confirmation; and personal experience living proof that we believe is real. As Jesus said: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
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Boo Arnold
January 12, 2022
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