Custom-Made Faith
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
- Galatians 1:6-7
In the age of the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, our culture also has an iFaith. It's a do-it-yourself divinity that has been customized for an individual's needs. But this is not the faith that is given to us in Scripture.
I would classify this as another gospel, which the apostle Paul warned about in Galatians 1: "Let God's curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed" (verses 8–9).
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Another variation of a false gospel would be one that promises that God wants us to be healthy and wealthy and always successful. I am not suggesting that I believe in the opposite of this. I don't believe that God wants everyone to be sick and poor. But I do believe that God wants to be God. He will bless some people with certain resources, but He won't bless others with the same resources. One person will have good health, while another will have poor health.
God's bottom line is not to make us happy; it is to make us holy. The goal is not to make Jesus like us; it is to make us like Jesus. Being a Christian is knowing God and walking with Him, no matter what. It means having our faith intact when the sun is shining and the sky is blue as well as when the storm is raging and the journey is difficult.
Jesus made it clear that storms will come into every life. And when those storms come, it will become evident what kind of foundation we have built on.
