June 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

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After two decades of counseling Christians, therapist M. Wayne Brown says he has seen the damage from faith that expects certain results-and the discouragement that follows when things don't turn out as planned.

"It's apparent that today's Christian often becomes addicted to seeking solutions rather than true transformation," he writes. "This addiction is making us spiritually neurotic and ineffective."

Brown eschews the pragmatic and programmatic approaches to faith, which he calls "the culture of Right Christian Living"-biblical principles that Christians use to achieve noble objectives: a stronger marriage, more effective prayer, a larger church, better-behaved kids. Rather, he believes, "The challenge for the church in the 21st century is to return to our first love-not only to the Person of our first love, but also to the way of our first love-the way of Jesus Christ."

Brown invites readers to make the shift from seeing faith as an exercise to abandoning themselves to God because he is God.

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