While most Christians share certain basic doctrines, all of which exalt Christ’s sacrifice for our sin, William Wilberforce points out in Real Christianity that not all Christians share the same reaction to those truths, thereby “uncovering a major defect.” We have inadequate conceptions of God and of Christian behavior.
Small Sense of Sins
If we truly grasped the weight of our sins, our “hearts would have danced with joy at this invitation: “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
But because we (the collective “we,” covering both Wilberforce's 18th century audience and equally as easily our own) have such a small sense of our sins, we likewise have a small sense of God’s grace.
Try his experiment: engage a fellow Christian in a conversation about religion. Does the talk center only on religious generalities, or is there evidence there has been previous contemplation on specific realities?
Christian Behavior
Wilberforce suggests a Christian should reflect an “ardent, active, and patient zeal in his service. It is a zeal tempered with prudence and softened with meekness...supported by a courage that no danger can intimidate and a quiet constancy that no hardship can exhaust.”
(And doesn’t history prove that Wilberforce lived that out through his long-suffering in battling the slave trade in Britain?)
Validity of the Emotions within Religion
“It is surely presumptuous to propose excluding from the Christian religion such a large part of the composition of man.”
“Indeed, we can scarcely look into any part of the sacred volume without meeting abundant proofs that it is the religion of the affections that God particularly requires. Love, zeal, gratitude, joy, hope, trust—the Word specifies each of them. It does not allow for them as weaknesses. Instead the Bible commands them as our duty and commends them to us as our acceptable worship.”
Scripture does not “represent the worship and service of the glorified spirits in heaven as a cold, intellectual investigation.” Our worship and service likewise should be full of gratitude and love. Not with superficial feeling, but with permanent emotion and proven by actions of service and love (John 14:23; 1 John 5:3).
The chapter ends with Wilberforce’s imagery of the finger of God Himself engraving the name of Jesus deeply on our hearts in everlasting characters. How beautiful! This enables us to keep our burdens lighter when in sorrow, and fill us even more fully with joy when in happier moments.
I’m discovering more and more why Real Christianity is a classic. The timeless truths it contains apply to Christians of all eras.
Others' thoughts from REAL CHRISTIANITY, Chapter 3
