Window
On The Word
-- by Tim Greenwood - December
2007
|
Mental
assent can be one of the greatest enemies of a life of faith.
In
Mat. 19:20, a young man said to Jesus, “All these things have I kept
from my
youth up: what lack I yet?” He was
claiming to have real Bible faith, but the truth was that he had mental
assent,
instead of real faith. The way that he reacted to Jesus’ reply proves
it. But
how can we avoid falling into the same trap?
What
Is mental assent? Mental assent is a
subtle form of self-deception, just one step removed from hypocrisy.
In
Luke 12:1 Jesus said to his disciples, Beware ye of the leaven of the
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is characterized as choosing not to practice what we preach.
We don't need anyone to explain hypocrisy or how crippling and common
it is.
Mental
assent is just as crippling and even more common but hidden from our
awareness.
So,
what is the difference between mental assent and hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy
is knowing what we ought to do but choosing not to. It's obvious both
to
yourself and those around you. Mental assent is more personal and less
public.
Indeed, waking up to its presence usually comes as a shock.
You
see; with mental assent you believe something in your head, you agree,
approve
and confirm it is right, proper and godly. It carries your unwavering
endorsement. You may not talk about it, but it bears your seal of
approval.
The
problem is that you don't even realize that you are not fulfilling it.
You
think it, but don't actually do it.
Why?
It is because with mental assent you believe it in your head but not in
your heart.
If
you truly believe something in your heart, you speak it aloud and put
it into
practice. You only believe God's Word as far as you obey and act on it.
Can
you see how it is actually ignorant hypocrisy, and just as toxic to a
life of
faith.
As
Christians, we need to change from mental assent to real Bible faith.
Real
Bible faith is of the heart, not the head: it includes your spirit,
rather than
just your mind.
Rom.
10:9-10 says, “That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and
shall believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shall
be saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made
unto
salvation.
Put
simply, when you believe in your heart you will do a thing. Believing
is a verb; faith is an
action. Faith without action is dead, and useless (James 2: 14-18).
Merely
agreeing and assenting to something does not produce action. Heart
faith always
results in action.
Only
by acting do you prove what you believe. You see why it is easy to
approve of
something in your mind, as though you were a participant, but not do it
yourself? It is self-deceiving to claim to believe without
corresponding
action. That's mental assent and it can only end in failure.
How
about answered prayer? Mental assent keeps asking for the same things
in
prayer. Heart faith asks once and knows God has answered according to
His
promise and then begins praising and thanking Him even before the
manifestation.
Healing
can be blocked by mental assent. Christians claim and proclaim the
healing
promises; but fail to act
on them. Mental assent: they stay sick or infirmed. What a difference
when we
change from mental assent to real Bible faith.
Another
kind of mental assent is a “group mentality” kind of faith. I
used to be part of denomination where “we”
believed this and “we” believed that without ever even considering what
I
believed as an individual. My faith was
the belief that surely the whole group couldn’t be deceived into
believing
wrong doctrines! What a shock to
believe that your feet are on solid rock, only to suddenly have that
rock roll
right out from under your feet!
Real
Bible faith is not mental assent. John Wesley warned in his time that
there was
a dangerous substitute for faith that he called "mental assent." He
was caught in this dangerous trap and only escaped after failing as a
missionary in America (his words.) Faith is of the heart and not merely
the
head. Simply agreeing that God exists and that his Word (the Bible) is
true is
not real Bible faith. James states that even demons have mental assent.
James
2:19 says, “Do you believe that there is one God? That’s pretty good
but even
the devils believe that, and tremble”
It’s time for all Christians to make the change
from mental assent to real Bible faith!
Rom. 10:17 says that (real Bible) faith comes by hearing, and hearing
(and hearing and hearing) the Word of God.
We need to learn what the Bible says, we need to individually believe
what it says to us personally in our heart, we need to say what God is
saying
in the Bible and then step out and act upon the Living Word of the
Living God
with the kind of faith that truly pleases God!
|