The previous section of Reconstructing Faith concerned how we can reasonably trust the Bible to be a divinely inspired source of truth about God and the nature of reality. We will now turn to understanding what the Bible says about the gospel, which concerns the relationship between you and God and how you are to behave in light of His existence.

The word “gospel” literally means “good message,” i.e., good news. And it is good news. If your perception of the gospel is that it is effort-based, shame-based, guilt-based, or meant to keep you in misery, then you have never properly understood the gospel.

Critical to grasping the gospel is to realize that there are two lenses through which to look at the various ideas in the Bible (God, the Messiah, sin, salvation, etc.): the lens of man looking up to God, and the lens of God looking down at man. This duality is present everywhere: for example, the Ten Commandments are two sets of five commandments, the first of which concerns man’s relationship to God, and the second of which concerns the responsibilities God gives man concerning other men. Another example is the two commandments on which the entire Law hung: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40).

Therefore, we must look at the gospel through both lenses to perceive it correctly.

What is Sin?

Man to God

God is our Creator and sustainer: He created the universe and all the life within it, and therefore He has the right to ordain how reality should function and how living organisms should behave. And because He is holy, we must be holy as well (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:13-16). We are obligated to obey His commandments perfectly and completely. When we choose not to, we sin.

God warned Adam and Eve that breaking the one and only commandment He gave them would result in their death. Satan lied to Eve and told her that “she would not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). But God is a God of truth (1 John 5:6), and Satan was the father of lies (John 8:44). Death – first spiritual, then eventually physical, then finally eternal – is the inevitable result of sin that has been unaccounted for (James 1:15). Sin redirects you from the path of the Author of Life (Acts 3:15) to the way of destruction (Matthew 7:13), because you cannot prosper in the long run by disobeying God. And because of God’s position as our Creator and his status as perfectly and eternally holy, He has the right to judge us and punish us when we violate His commands.

God to Man

On the other hand, God created all His laws and commandments to bring about shalom, a Jewish concept that expresses the idea of a reality where everything is right with the world. God’s laws are 100% for our good. This was the other half of Satan’s deception: he told Eve that if she disobeyed God, she would have her eyes opened and be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5). In other words, he tricked her into believing that some good thing was hiding outside the reach of God’s law that could only be obtained through disobedience.

All of God’s commandments, whether about sex, money, interpersonal relationships, responsibility, etc., are all designed to bring about happiness and health on both an individual and societal level. Sin, on the other hand, promises a reward that lies outside the realm of obedience to God, but in truth, all sin is in some way vile and dishonorable. It reflects a lack of proper perspective toward God, it devalues our fellow man (who the Bible teaches is made in the image of God and is therefore full of inherent dignity), or it upholds something as valuable that in truth will suck us spiritually dry if we chase after it.

If a single one of God’s commandments in the New Covenant were to produce true suffering when pursued with a proper understanding of sin, salvation, and sanctification, it would disprove the Bible. But of course, if we think we have found such a commandment, we must first be sure that we are not simply deceived into believing that something we think is good for us isn’t secretly killing us.

And that’s the real truth: sin is killing us. It corrupts all of creation (Romans 8:21), and it destroys individuals and societies. For example, on an individual level, excessive consumption of alcohol literally poisons the body. Or concerning sexual morality, God designed sex as a way of spiritually knitting men and women together to make them one flesh (Genesis 2:24). Sex outside of marriage therefore involves knitting yourself to someone and then ripping yourself apart from them, with all the attendant psychological and spiritual pain that results (no matter how much good Hollywood fictionally portrays as resulting from recreational sex).

On a collective level, a corrupt government might collude with corporations and permit toxins to be introduced into food and water supplies. Or a communist government that upholds human reason and “economic fairness” as the foundation of the law instead of God’s Word will eventually implement a tyrannical surveillance state where fear and oppression reign.

Every step away from God’s path leads to negative natural consequences. Thus, there is no distinction between God’s holy commands, what’s good and healthy for you, and what’s good for those around you (family and community). The only problem is your lack of trust in God’s intentions toward you.

If this seems surprising, it’s probably because of how God’s commandments get first twisted, then co-opted as boundaries that protect the “in-group” of Christianity. I will discuss this idea later in this series, but suffice it to say, the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ days had twisted God’s laws concerning the Sabbath by adding regulations to what Jews could do on the Sabbath. Jesus intentionally broke those regulations, which was a major factor in these religious leaders deciding to murder Him.

If we look at how Jesus broke those laws, it shows a lot about God’s character. For example, in Luke 6:1-5, Jesus and His disciples eat grain on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees challenge Him, Jesus goes beyond simply rebuking their sin of adding to God’s law to point out that even in the Old Testament, David ate the showbread that only the priests were allowed to eat (see 1 Samuel 21). Why? Because he and his men were very hungry. God’s laws are designed for our good, so He permitted a deviation even from His strict priestly laws to keep a beloved child and his allies from fainting from hunger and being overcome by the murderers chasing them. By levying regulations that caused such hunger, the Pharisees were not showing themselves to be men after God’s own heart.

Similarly, in Matthew 12:9-14, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees accuse Him according to their twisted Sabbath regulations, Jesus likened the healing to pulling a sheep out of a pit, a simple act of mercy that any Jew would have performed on the Sabbath. Once again, Jesus was attempting to show that God’s laws were fundamentally loving and compassionate, and He never intended them to be twisted to lay burdens and suffering on men. As Jesus said:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

What is Salvation?

This leads to the concept of salvation, which is the answer to the question: once we disobey God and live a life outside of perfect obedience to His commandments, how do we enter back into right relationship with Him?

Man to God

Unfortunately, sinning incurs an eternal debt toward God we have no means of repaying. We have nothing to offer God to atone for our unholy actions, so we end up in the posture of a debtor who is hopelessly indebted to a creditor. However, because Jesus was a sinless servant, His shameful murder on the cross, which He willingly submitted to for God’s glory, allowed Him to claim something from God, which He had negotiated to be a forgiveness for our debt. That is why on the cross, right before He died, Jesus cried out “It is finished!” (John 19:30), which can alternately be translated as “Paid in full!”

Thus, any sinner who wishes to have his account wiped clean has to sell himself into bondservanthood to Jesus Christ. Although it is sometimes translated as “slavery” in the Bible, bondservanthood is a different economic arrangement. Instead of being property of their masters, bondservants pledged to perform a certain length of service to their masters in exchange for the masters paying off their debt and providing for them during their term of service. Jesus did the spiritual equivalent for anyone who would become His servant in the faith, which is why Paul (Romans 1:1; Titus 1:1), Timothy (Philippians 1:1), James (James 1:1), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), and Jude (Jude 1:1) introduced themselves in letters as bondservants of God and/or Jesus Christ.

Because God freely gave His Son for our salvation (John 3:16), this arrangement of bondservanthood essentially equates to God giving His people free release from their debts, which explains parables like Luke 7:41-42 and Matthew 18:21-35. However, in accessing this release of overwhelming spiritual debt, we in the faith have pledged ourselves to God’s service for the remainder of our lives. We are obligated to do whatever He asks of us from the moment we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior onward (that is why we call Him “Lord”). We are essentially indentured servants to God. Note: when we access forgiveness of sins via this arrangement, we are what the Bible calls “justified,” meaning our spiritual debt has been cancelled out.

In a sense, grace us costs both everything and nothing. When you convert, it costs you nothing you already possess, but you do give up sovereign control over the rest of your life, in exchange for three benefits:

• You receive instant forgiveness for all spiritual crimes, past, present and future.
• God goes from your enemy to your perfectly loving Father. He will care for, guide, grow, discipline, and protect you.
• You receive a heavenly inheritance after death: no pain or suffering, a mansion in heaven, food and water without price, and most importantly, the eternal presence of God (Revelation 21:3).

As God’s indentured servant, your duty for the rest of your life is to spread the gospel in whatever way He calls you to. He gives you marching orders, and you obey like a soldier (2 Timothy 2:4). You still get all the benefits and blessings, but you work for Him until your death (2 Corinthians 5:15).

This is not so bad when you realize that you will spend the rest of your life spreading peace, righteousness, justice, and love through the world. Many faith systems promise these things, but only Christianity offers the real thing. Note that at first, most converts think this means evangelism, so they begin sharing the good news left and right. Soon enough, however, they realize that the true burden of the gospel is the hard work of sanctification, which is a necessary precursor to serious ministry (to be discussed shortly).

Note also that at no point do we obey to “earn” grace, but rather to fulfill our ministry duties (also to be discussed shortly).

Now, you may be wondering: why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Why couldn’t God have just waved His hand and forgiven our sins?

It’s possible He could have. However, God understands the power of metaphors and symbolism. The single biggest challenge to man submitting to God is first appreciating the true nature of his sin. Sinners do not understand how horrible their sin is – after all, if they did, they wouldn’t sin in the first place.

The crucifixion of Jesus combines several powerful metaphors:

• A father offering up his beloved son.
• A good man dying to save his enemies.
• Living creatures murdering the source of all life (Acts 3:15; Colossians 1:16).
• An innocent man being executed in the most brutal, shameful, painful manner imaginable, the ultimate miscarriage of justice.
• A kind and caring man being assassinated by those in power for simply calling out their failure to exercise their power responsibly and encouraging their followers to return to a life of love and humility.

All of these things together shine a spotlight on our sin and hold up a mirror to our true nature. We cannot attain salvation without looking ourselves directly in the face, thanks to this particular arrangement God set up by which we could be forgiven. Because God is God, He can use His control of history to make His metaphors actual events, and thus He did with Jesus’ sacrifice.

God to Man

When a man or woman enters the Christian faith, God adopts him or her as a child. We become God’s sons and daughters, His legal heirs.

This means He treats us like a perfectly loving Father. This can be hard for the uninitiated to appreciate, because our understanding of fatherhood is based primarily on our own human fathers, and if they were cruel or neglectful, we will enter the faith imagining God as cruel or neglectful. But as we spend time in His family, we begin to experience the kind of love we could only receive from a perfect human father, which has never existed on earth (although men emulating God have modeled powerful love and care for their children).

God is a God who does not condemn His children (Romans 8:1). He does not abuse, but rather He disciplines solely for the good of His children (Hebrews 12:5-11). He yearns to give us all the good things He can (Psalm 84:11). And He uses His sovereignty over existence to work all things together for the good of His children (Romans 8:28). Note that this is not a guarantee that Christians will always have health and wealth, for sometimes spiritual growth or a powerful ministry requires our suffering first. Life is complicated.

Also note that all these ideas and promises do not apply to nonbelievers, whom God earnestly pursues but requires that they must repent before being adopted. In this way, Christianity is a very exclusive religion. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). On the other hand, Christianity is incredibly inclusive, because it is open to every single human being on the planet, regardless of sex, age, race, nationality, criminal history, dark past, or any other differentiator. The door is open to anyone wishing to be God’s child, and as previously mentioned, when you enter, your slate is wiped clean, and it remains clean as long as you abide in the faith (more on that in a later article).

Importantly, God is not a stingy God. He does not give us the gospel begrudgingly. Instead, He is deeply invested in trying to save men and women from their paths of destruction and bring them into His family, so He can bless and care for them. If you read the Bible with open eyes, you will see how despite being perfect and holy and all-powerful, God is willing to cut mankind an extraordinary amount of slack if He can just find a single man or woman who will try to do the right thing and listen to His wise instruction. He wants to love us and be in right relation with us.

The actual mechanism of being saved (which is by grace through faith) is a three-step process (Romans 10:9-10):

1. Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sin and that God raised Him from the dead.
2. Repent, which means to stop heading in the direction of sin, apologize to God, turn around, and decide to follow God instead.
3. Confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

When you do these three things, you convert and enter the Christian faith as a believer and disciple of Christ.

When we do this, in addition to receiving a heavenly Father, we also receive a good shepherd in Jesus. The Bible points out (correctly) that humans are like sheep, prone to wandering into danger and failing to pursue that which is good for us. In the historical stories of the Bible, the greatest challenge for mankind is always the death of the righteous leader (starting as early as Adam sinning while God was absent during His Sabbath-day rest). People fell routinely into civilization-wide sin as soon as a righteous leader died. However, because Jesus will never die again (Romans 6:9), we will never lose our righteous leader and guide, so we will forever be safe if we follow Him.

As far as the experience of being in God’s covenant goes, being loved by God and being reconnected with Him through Christ’s sacrifice is akin to a lamp being plugged in. A lamp that has been plugged in and switched on no longer needs to argue with other lamps about whether electricity exists. A lamp is fundamentally designed to light up.

Another metaphor would be that of our hearts being like a compass that suddenly finds the pull of magnetic north. A compass is designed for that pull, and thus we were designed for God. Our hearts of stone are replaced by hearts of flesh when we repent and embrace Jesus as our savior (Ezekiel 36:26), and these new hearts of flesh know God in a way that is so deeply intuitive it cannot be fully explained to those who have not experienced it.

Moreover, in God we find our true worth. Some struggle with coming to the faith because they do not feel “worthy.” And they are right – we are not. But it is not our place to tell God He is wrong to save us or to choose us. That is more of the same arrogance that leads us into our sin and shame. Who we are now is not desirable, but when we convert, God instantaneously makes us into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and it is that creation that is truly lovable and righteous and holy and valuable. Do not think that your sins are worse than everyone else’s, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:21-26 is very helpful on this point). If God can save a single sinner anywhere, He can save you.

For a good summary in the Bible of God’s loving attitude toward His children, read Psalm 103.

Note: When you surrender to God’s love and call to repent, the entire course of your life changes. Imagine life is a river. When you seek to build a life outside of God’s will, you are forever swimming upstream. This produces an undercurrent of exhaustion, anxiety, and strain that saps away at you your whole life.

Now, some false Christian teachers will tell you that when you convert, the river changes direction, and God will begin to assist you in attaining the things you already were seeking, like fame and fortune, or health and wealth. In truth, however, you simply change directions and start swimming with the river, pursuing the better things that will result in your true thriving and happiness.

What is Sanctification?

Sanctification refers to the process of a Christian becoming increasingly holy in thought, word, and deed as they spend more and more time in the faith. In other words, they increasingly follow God’s commandments and thereby abandon sinful behaviors.

Man to God

When we enter the faith, the Holy Spirit (one of the three members of the divine Godhead called the Trinity) enters into us and actually dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). This is both an awesome privilege and a terrifying responsibility. You see, God is holy and perfectly righteous and neither commits nor tolerates any evil or corrupting actions.

Because He dwells in us, we must be holy as well (Leviticus 11:45; 1 Peter 1:16). The Old Covenant law had many commandments about making Israel a sacred and holy territory, for God dwelled amongst the Israelites. Similarly, because God now dwells in us (His Spirit is His connection point with us), we must purge ourselves of all sin and unrighteousness, because God has no fellowship with lawlessness, as explained clearly in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.

Easy-believism would have you believe that faith is a matter of saying a saving prayer, and then you’re all good. But your pursuit of righteousness and rejection of sin for the rest of your life is an absolutely crucial part of the Christian walk. This is mentioned so many times in the New Testament, it would be a massive effort to reference all the prooftexts.

Note: Isaiah 64:6 (“all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags”) is often misquoted to attempt to sell the idea that our righteous deeds are unimportant, but when read in context, you’ll see that in verse 5, Isaiah literally says that “You [God] meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways.” Verses 6 and 7 indicate that Isaiah is talking about how the righteousness of Judah had withered and turned into wickedness because of the nation’s descent into sin and apostasy over the centuries. This passage must be wrenched out of context to suggest that righteousness is unimportant, when the context suggests that righteousness is actually extremely important.

Now, if you do not pursue holiness, you may still go to heaven (although a complete disinterest in holiness is a telltale sign of a fake believer), but your works in this life will be burned up on your judgment day (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). Moreover, your attempts to build a good life in this life can fail, because sin is corrosive and deadly (Romans 8:13), and, also, having a holy God inside you whom you are not making yourself holy for is dangerous. In fact, in Paul’s day, Corinthian believers were actually dying because they were living in unrepentant sin that they refused to acknowledge and take to the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:27-32). When Jesus said that those who love Him keep His commandments (John 14:21), this was not a joke or mere suggestion.

The process of sanctification requires making war on the yearnings of your sinful flesh and overcoming them with God’s power, which is explained thoroughly in the Book of Romans. Note that it’s not about suppressing your sin with willpower, but rather confronting the ways you have used sin to deal with difficulties in life, negative emotions, shame, etc., and replacing them with God’s love and compassion. This is not an overnight process for your most deeply held addictions and habits, and it takes time and courage to uproot your sin and replace it with God’s healthy commandments.

As a matter of fact, to truly escape sin, you will have to find forms of freedom that the world doesn’t know about (you won’t be forever on the verge of a relapse into alcoholism if you miss an AA meeting) or doesn’t even recognize as a possibility (such as victory over homosexual urges). God may expect you to go where most have not. Just remember: as long as you love God and seek to serve Him, you will experience no condemnation when you stumble and fail while trying to figure this all out (you certainly do not suddenly become at risk of going to Hell, which is why pastors who preach fire and brimstone to believers are both foolish and abusive). In fact, you will progress into holiness in stages (2 Corinthians 3:18).

For an analogue to this in Scripture, let’s consider 2 Chronicles 14-15. Asa king of Judah had ten years of peace after an incomplete cleansing of Judah from idolatry, before he was invaded by Zerah the Ethiopian. Asa responded in faithfulness, so he was able to not only defeat Zerah, but plunder his troops. However, he was warned afterwards by a prophet that if he didn’t complete the covenant renewal, things would turn bad for him, so he did so immediately after the confrontation. Similarly, we may experience blessings and protection as we deal imperfectly with our sin, but when God calls us to greater faithfulness, we must respond in obedience.

The Role of Obedience in Salvation

All this gives us insight into the role of obedience and commandment-keeping in our salvation. We are not saved by our good works, but rather solely by God’s grace, that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9), because we have no “right” to be saved based on our own merit. We access Christ’s salvation through faith, not our obedience to God’s law (Galatians 2:16).

However, if you search for a reference to Christians being saved by “faith alone” in the Bible, you will not find it (except for the reference in James I’m about to discuss that explicitly says we are not saved by faith alone), because the Protestant Reformation went too far in swinging away from the Roman Catholic idea of good works playing a role in us earning salvation. God indeed expects us to make the effort to mature into holiness (Matthew 5:48), albeit not with immediate or 100% perfect results. That expectation is why James says that we are justified by works and not by faith only (James 2:24) and that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). If you look at the examples James gives in that chapter (Abraham and Rahab), you can see clearly that what is meant by “works” in this context is doing what God calls us to do, even when it’s scary or difficult.

Peter similarly says that “in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35), confirming that faith and commandment-keeping go hand-in-hand. This is completely in line with the nature of faith in the Old Testament, in which Solomon used his divinely given wisdom to explore all the options available for man to seek good and, in the end, summed it up as such: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

It might be helpful to clarify that there are two kinds of commandments from God: generic ground rules and specific instructions. In a household, a father might have general rules such as “Don’t steal from your siblings,” but also might call a child into his presence and say, “Please unload the dishwasher.” Similarly, God has general commandments, such as “Don’t murder,” but also might tell you one day to move to another country and become a missionary. Keeping both the general rules that apply to everyone and also responding in faithfulness to specific instructions together constitute obedience in Christ.

Are God’s Commandments Fair?

You may be wondering how it’s fair for God to call you to holiness and to actively work against your sinful impulses, habits, and addictions. The answer: entering God’s covenant is voluntary. We justly deserve the spiritual death our sin incurs and thus cannot blame God for the consequences of our own evil choices (more on that in my upcoming discussion about Hell). Fortunately, God offers us a “get out of jail free” card to escape the just consequences of our sin through the saving power of the gospel. But when we take it, we do so by choice, and Jesus commands us to count the cost of following Him before converting (Luke 14:25-33). He would not have done so if following Him were not a costly endeavor.

In fact, God’s covenant is always voluntary. For example, if you read through Exodus, you will notice that prior to chapter 19, even though the Israelites complained, tempted God, and were faithless, God did not punish them in any way. However, in Exodus 19:3-8, God offered Israel the opportunity to be a treasure to Him, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In response, the Israelites said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

After God gave them the Ten Commandments and some parts of the Old Covenant Law, the Israelites repeated, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do” (Exodus 24:3). Hence, their entrance into God’s covenant was voluntary. Only after they made this choice did they begin to suffer punishment for violating God’s laws and acting in an unholy manner (starting with the gold calf in Exodus 32).

It is also critical to note that when we convert to Christianity, we are no longer bound up with the impulses of our sinful flesh, but now have a mind that is separate from our sin (see Paul’s discussion about this in Romans, especially Romans 8:1-17). Thus, even when we are still driven to sin by the addictions and bondages of our past, we are newly resistant to it.

In the faith, we are cleansed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11). Hence, whenever God calls us to walk away from something, we can have confidence that we will be able to do it by His power. We are no longer our sin.

God to Man

Pursuing sanctification is more than a duty. Remember that God is a Father. He sent Jesus to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21 – note that this is laid out right at the beginning of the New Testament) because He loves us and wants what’s best for us. As previously discussed, sin kills us slowly and corrupts everything good in our lives. Therefore, God calls us to move toward holiness, that we may be healthier, happier, and more at peace.

Moreover, the very best thing we have in life is God’s presence. True Christians are always yearning to go deeper with Jesus, know Jesus better, experience Him more. Well, if the entire reason He came to earth was to save us from our sins, then it stands to reason that to leverage His salvation to escape sin is the best way to connect with Him.

In fact, this is the missing ingredient in American Christianity. I will discuss this more in the Church section of Reconstructing Faith, but we have carefully planned and professionally produced Sunday services in almost every church in America, while overcoming addictions and breaking sinful habits is usually relegated to a side ministry and offered as merely an option for interested believers.

This is a major misalignment in priorities for the Church. Overcoming sin should be the center focus of the Church, the main thing taught by pastors to their flocks. When Christians don’t realize the central importance of repenting and conquering sin, they drift into disconnection from God and His ministry purposes, and they wind up stuck in a spiritual malaise.

But God can be easily found again – all you have to do is make a firm commitment to identify and escape from every pattern of habitual sin in your life. I promise you, if you do this with serious intention, you will rediscover God in a hurry, and once you have conquered every major sin, you will find yourself in a season of significant ministry and usefulness to Him.

It is important not to get stuck in the beginning stages of the faith. You enter the kingdom with the faith of a child (Matthew 18:3). But increasing your faith is not just about increasing your understanding of God’s love – it is about increasing the knowledge of your sin, the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice, and your corresponding duty to serve Him (Luke 17:5-10). When God calls you out of sin, He is thereby growing your faith for your good, turning you into a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for Him, prepared for every good work (2 Timothy 2:21).

As God is a Father, our obedience to Him is meant to be similar to our obedience to a loving earthly father. Being obedient is not about manipulating your parents to get good things from them. It’s about loving your parents deeply because of their never-ceasing, tender care for you. You seek to please them because your bond of love is strong.

This is true for any kind of leadership, whether familial or professional or even training a dog. If you can balance constant concern for the welfare of those under your authority with necessary correction for unhealthy behaviors that threaten the welfare of both the person doing them and the group as a whole, then those under your authority will almost always respect/love you and submit willingly to your guidance and instructions.

The mature Christian perceives God to be this kind of leader, to a perfect extent. If you don’t know God to be a perfectly loving parent, then any attempts to please God through believing the “right things” and following the rules of American Christianity are futile. After all, without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and you can’t have true faith in God if you don’t have faith that He is good and that He cares for you. Hence, obedience and the pursuit of sanctification is a natural outgrowth of a loving relationship with God and a genuine faith in Christ.