Follow-up to "Believing God"

I came across this interview with Dan Phillips from a while back, and it is actually what prompted my previous post from today. I wanted to share it with you all because I think it perfectly underscores (and that succinctly!) the point I was trying to make. The italics are mine.

I praise God for His kindness in sending His dear Son to die on the Cross for His people, after perfectly living a life of believing obedience to the whole Word of God in our place. Thank God that we have the power to believe and the power to obey, won by the precious blood of the Incarnate King.

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If you could pinpoint the main problem with evangelicalism today, what would it be and why?

Unbelief.

Since that word is so often misused, and it would be easy to misunderstand what I mean, let me unpack what I am saying. I mean that God tells us a great deal in the Bible, and professed evangelicals don’t really believe it. God tells us we are lost and hopeless and comprehensively ruined by sin, but we don’t think we’re really that bad off. God tells us that He is brilliantly holy and righteous, and may be approached only on His terms, yet we think we can negotiate. God tells us that His word is living, powerful and sufficient, yet we think we need to improve on it and pep up our presentations with other things that sideline the Word. We give pulpit time to things other than the warm, truthful, passionate exposition of His Word. God tells us that the Gospel must be preached purely and grasped resolutely, but we think we can barter off the unpopular bits. God tells us Christ is the celebrity of the universe, but we have others (or “re-envisioned” Christs) we find more congenial. That, and more.

So, what is the one word that sums up the state of affairs that obtains when God tells us something, but we do not really embrace, stand on, and respond to His words with trust and obedience?

Unbelief.

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"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13 ESV, emphasis mine).