A brief summary of the Book
/God placed on my heart a mathematical equation to express Faith. Christian Faith specifically. And I have written a book about it - One Simple Equation. Join me in exploring how this simple equation can help the reader reaffirm their faith every day and work through the daily struggles of life. This book will also illustrate how this equation can be used to disciple to others. By sharing this simple mathematical equation with others the reader can share their faith with an easy to understand illustration that clearly illustrates the foundational power of God’s Love for basing the principles on which to build our lives.
Why express Christian Faith Mathematically?
1st, math is a universal language. The concept of 1+1=2 is the same to all people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or language. Even a person living in the middle of a jungle with no formal education knows that if they pick up one coconut from the jungle floor then pick up another coconut they now have two coconuts. Regardless of the word they use for the number two, weather it be dos, mbili or zwei, 1+1=2 is universally understood
2nd, Mathematics is the language of God. Everything we see in the visible universe can be expressed mathematically. Light being emitted from the sun and distant stars can be expressed mathematically, the molecular structure of compounds can be expressed mathematically, how the planets stars and galaxies swirl through the cosmos can be expressed mathematically, the human genome can be expressed mathematically. Genesis tells us that God spoke creation. Every act of creation in the book of Genesis begins with “And God said”. God used language to speak the universe and everything in it into existence. He used the language of mathematics. God spoke the very fabric of the universe into existence by weaving it together with threads spun from the wool of all the mathematical disciplines.
So let’s look at the equation. F equals Trust times God’s Love Cubed. F represents the term for Faith which is what we will be solving for since Faith is the foundation on which we establish our principles to live by. T represents the term Trust and is the variable in this equation because Trust is the basis of belief. Trust in anything tends to vary from one moment to the next or one day to the next in response to our ever changing circumstances. L3 represents the Triune love of God and is the constant term for the equation. God’s Love is constant, infinite, unwavering, and limitless. God’s Love is the sturdiest of foundations to establish our Trust in. It is the rock.
Now, since Faith plays such a vital role in the development of the principles we live our lives by, it is very important to make sure what we are placing our trust in is in fact true and is ultimate truth. How do we know God’s love is the ultimate truth? The answer is right in front of us. Love is the ultimate expression of truth. We all know this to be true. You don’t need a PhD. in philosophy or theology to understand this. We all know this intuitively. Think of your own love. Do you love your children? Of course you do. So ask yourself, how true is your love for your children? If you are like me it is very true. Nothing could be truer. No one has ever said “I love my children, but that is not really true.” How about our spouse or significant other? Do we love them “but not really?” Of course not. You love them and you know it to be true. We truly love the people we love. Why do you think we call it “True Love?” Because, love is true, love is truth. False love can’t exist because false love isn’t love at all.
Since we know Love is true we also understand that true love is sacrificial. As parents we sacrifice so much for the love of our children. As husbands and wives we sacrifice so much for our spouse. Most people would even lay down their life for their kids or spouse. God’s love is True love because he did just that. He came to earth in the form of His only Son and He died on the cross so we all may live. This is why I can accept Jesus as my savior. Because the gospel is rooted in God’s True sacrificial love for me, It is rooted in Truth and my Faith is a product of that truth. So I pray everyday “Father give me the wisdom to place ALL my Trust in Your Love because you loved me so much you were willing to die for me so I may live. Thank you Father for Your Love.” It ALL hinges on God’s Love for us. Without God’s love, perhaps creation never happens. Without God’s Love mankind would never be pursued and Jesus would never have come to save us. It is all a product of God’s Love for you and me.
The written word of God, the Bible is the authority by which we know that God loves us. The Bible is all about God’s Love for us. The Bible is rooted in love and therefore rooted in truth since love is the ultimate expression of truth. One of the unique features of this love story is the object of God’s Love in the Bible is you and me, the readers. We are the object of the love being expressed. In most love stories the object of a character’s love is another character in the story. For example, in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” the object of Romeo’s love is Juliet and the object of Juliet’s love is Romeo. Another point is, the bible is just to brutally honest and transparent to be false. The Bible reveals lying, cheating, lust, adultery, murder, violence and repeated failure. If early Christians wanted to contrive a wild story just to get people to follow them, don’t you think they would have painted a prettier picture? A picture that would be easier to accept? It is just not in our nature to be so honest and transparent unless we really meant to confess the truth. Read the social media posts of you and your connections to realize we typically only show our success and victories. You see posts and chats about the wonderful vacation, the promotion at work, birthdays, anniversaries, date night out at a nice restaurant, etc. We don’t typically air our dirty laundry and show all our shortcomings.
This equation can help us share our faith and even disciple others. F=TL3 is simple to understand and easy to explain. The more Trust we place in God’s Triune Love the stronger our Faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit becomes.
Replace L3 God’s Triune Love with any other term and Faith as a foundation on which to build our principles breaks down and ultimately fails. Placing money in the equation as the constant term just doesn’t work. F=T$ would represent placing all our trust in the pursuit of money. The value of the dollar fluctuates daily on the currency exchanges. Portfolio values fluctuate daily on the stock markets. Money loses its value over time due to inflation. Your bank account never has the same amount in it from one day to the next. There is nothing constant about money. There are so many factors that affect the pursuit of money that we just can’t control. Money is finite doesn’t represent truth in any way. Money is a poor foundation on which to build your fundamental principles. Money tears families apart and ruins friendships. The pursuit of money can and usually does lead to worry, anxiety, and fear. Money is not the Rock on which to build your Faith.
You can do the same exercise with power, beauty, sex, drugs, and even one’s self. Placing all your trust in yourself is dangerous. We are all imperfect, broken people that make a lot of mistakes throughout life. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations are at the core of being human. These lead to making poor judgements and poor decisions. F=TS, We fail ourselves often enough to see that the self is a poor representation for a constant term in the equation. By putting the weight of the world onto our own shoulders and having everything in our lives rely upon our self is a recipe for anxiety, fear, loneliness and depression. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life that lead me to experience those emotions. After spending 42 years as an Atheist I have realized that there is something much greater than me. I realized that I am just not in control but God truly is. God’s love for me is the cornerstone.
Placing all our trust in anything but God’s Love will lead to anxiety, fear, uncertainty, depression and loneliness because all material things are easily lost and corruptible. Since all these other things are just finite, temporary worldly materials they don’t follow you beyond the grave. But God’s Love does. It is the only thing that transcends life and death and will be the only thing you take with you into heaven.
By illustrating my Faith with a simple equation that I can use to pray on and use to share my faith with others I can disciple others introducing people to Jesus through this example.
God’s love is sacrificial and as a result is Truth. God spent thousands of years pursuing his people throughout the old testament constantly being rejected yet he still pursued. Finally we come to the Gospels where God proves the sacrificial nature of his love by coming to earth in the form of His Son only to be rejected again. Being brutally beaten and tortured, having the flesh torn from his body by flogging. Being ridiculed and spit on then nailed to a cross and hung up until he suffocated to death. He allowed all this to happen so his death could represent the final sacrifice. The payment for the debt of all our sins so we may all live.
God’s Love is a truth and a constant I can place ALL my Trust in and there is no way I can keep that a secret. I want to tell the world. I want to share this simple equation that expresses my Faith in such a profound love as God’s love for me. I hope you will as well.