Tag Archives: Seek God

Faith Deconstruction: Good or Bad?

There’s a popular trend within the church of young people “deconstructing” their beliefs in regards to the Bible. Alisa Childers (apologist) defines faith deconstruction as, “the process of systematically dissecting and often rejecting the beliefs you grew up with.”

Deconstructing your faith can either propel you forward or it can pull you back!

Faith deconstruction can pull you back from faith because you allow your opinions about it to trump scripture’s meaning of it. You may manipulate the meaning of scripture’s truth to fit your own feelings about it. “What’s true for me, is truth for me.” Now, another side of it can be fruitful. The fruitful side of faith deconstructing is when you reconstruct it alongside the Bible, with God and among believers in Christ. This will propel your faith forward making a stronger connection to God because you are asking and seeking. The Bible says those who ask and seek will find. Find what? Find Him.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

I Deconstructed my faith 4 years ago

However, instead of rejecting the beliefs I grew up with… I decided to re-learn them, biblically. Not through my own opinion/feelings or popular preacher at the time, rather looking closely to the Bible and learning how to understand it. Instead of only listening to “pump-up” sermons, I decided to follow teachers that explained the Bible and how to read it. Although I’d never ever use the word “deconstructing”, I’d say I dedicated more time to “dissecting” scripture to better understand it. I chose to biblically understand it not merely just follow what people told me or what I told myself was “true”. This is a practice I continue to process. To ask questions. Then seek God for answers through understanding his Word and being convicted and comforted by it. Opening my heart to truth regardless of how I feel at the time about it. A fruitful process in growing our faith in THE truth not just “our own” truth.

Deconstruct your faith, BUT don’t LOSE it!

If you’re searching for biblical understanding – you’re in the right spot. God answers those who earnestly seek and believe in him!

“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

Psalm 9:10

Resources that continue to help me understand the Bible:

Mike Winger (YouTube apologist)

Alisa Childers (YouTube apologist)

The Bible Recap (Podcast) – Bible reading plan and teaching on how to find God’s character in scripture *what he likes/dislikes, loves/hates..etc*.

The ESV Study Bible (Book on Amazon)

Then lastly, finding a community of believers in Christ that too want to better understand him and his Word. OH… and prayer – asking God to bring that community to your awareness as you search it out!

Blessings.

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Weakness In The Way

Understanding how to manage your weaknesses will help you to learn how to manage and elevate your strengths. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses, they come as a unique package, you cannot have one without the other. Which means we must not focus on only one but have an understanding of both.

The interviewer asks, “What are your strength and what are your weaknesses?” Not, “do you have any weaknesses…?” It is already assumed that every person has them. The question is then, how can I help you in achieving your strength’s despite your weaknesses in this job role? It is inevitable that you are going to have weak areas about you that hold you back from being your best. What are they so I can be of best assistance to you?

Imagine for a moment that God is the interviewer, except instead of asking you, “what are your weaknesses?” He tells you what they are.

Not to discourage you but to encourage you that even with your weaknesses He can be of best assistance for and through you. But first you must know what they are.

Benefits of knowing your weakness is so you can avoid the element of surprise when they arise. For example, the element of surprise may come in a form of anxiety, and without knowledge or time to process why that feeling arose it can spiral to a panic attack. The goal is to not let the weaknesses hold you back from moving forward. The goal is to acknowledge their existence to better manage their feelings.

I want to encourage you that you are not defined by your weakness, but by your ability to manage them for strength. Seek God in question: “What are my weaknesses that keep me from elevating my strengths?” “Show me how YOU can assist me in my weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-11 NIV

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

This is how we manage our weakness; we replace its power with God’s grace through prayer and submission. The focus does not shift on your own power but on the power of the cross. Your weakness is not a set back – it’s a breakthrough; an opportunity to glorify God.