A Simple Story That Changed How I See Everything
It’s interesting how people naturally align with ideas, values, and beliefs about the world and life. Living and working as a career missionary in Ukraine has offered me a front-row seat to this process: how it forms, how it is held together, and what happens when different worldviews collide.
One particular experience illustrates how two long-held views collided on a blistering-hot summer day. It was about ninety degrees, and the humidity was so high you could break into a sweat just sitting still. I was riding on a city bus in our home city, called Dnipro. No air conditioning. The bus was packed wall to wall with people. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and heat.
In front of me, the window was closed. So I did what anyone with half a brain would do (heads up to the auto-assumption and programming). I leaned forward, reached over the people in front of me, and opened the window.
AHHH, instant relief!
For about two seconds. Then all hell broke loose. Several passengers shouted, “Close that window! The air is going to make us all sick!”
I paused, trying to make sense of what I had just heard. Then I asked, “Wait… you believe that fresh air rushing over your body when it’s ninety degrees will make you sick?”
“Of course,” came the reply. This wasn’t just one person’s opinion; it was (and continues to be) a widely held belief.
Later that same day, I was in our apartment with my friend Dennis. We were covering the Soviet-era wallpaper with a fresh new design—no air conditioning, same oppressive heat, and I was drenched in sweat. There was a breeze outside, so I opened the window. Dennis walked over and quietly closed it. This time, I didn’t respond with curiosity. I responded like a pastor who had clearly run out of any semblance of spiritual maturity in the heat.
“Dennis,” I said, rather forcefully, “I don’t believe that crap about a breeze making you sick!”
He looked at me, a bit confused and slightly amused, and said, “Um, Michael… we have wallpaper paste on the wall. If there is a strong breeze blowing through, parts of it could dry too quickly, and the wallpaper won’t stick properly.”
And just like that… I was the one with half a brain. Not to mention the metaphorical egg covering my face.
Seeds of Change Take Time to Sprout and Grow
That moment in time stuck with me because it revealed something I hadn’t fully seen before. Both of us were acting in alignment with our worldview:
– The people on the bus were aligned with a belief shaped by their environment and culture.
– I was aligned with my own assumptions about what should be “obvious.”
– Dennis was aligned with the practical reality of the situation at hand.
None of us was being irrational from within our own particular worldview, but we were limited by it.
Why This Matters for Our Faith
Have you ever taken the time to examine the fruit your faith actually produces? Once, I was with my friend Tim, a lifelong farmer. We looked out upon his green and growing corn crop. I saw healthy corn; Tim saw areas that were healthy, promising a healthy yield, and other sections that were not as healthy and productive.
Tim had the eyes and experience to see what was really true. I did not.
I’ve discovered (the hard way) that we don’t just hold beliefs; we are aligned with them. And from inside that alignment:
- Things feel obvious.
- Other perspectives feel wrong.
- And we rarely stop to question what shaped us.
Until something disrupts it.
The Real Invitation
The problem is not alignment itself. Alignment is a necessary and natural part of our human experience. But it becomes dangerous when we:
- Lose awareness of it.
- Assume it’s the only way to see.
- Hold it so tightly that we cannot adjust.
Because life will eventually present moments where your current way of seeing is being challenged.
Reflection Bridge
So here’s a few questions:
- Where might you be “closing the window”… without realizing why?
- And where might you be “opening it”… without seeing the bigger picture?
- Like me with Tim, do you have eyes to see what is real and true?
- What do the openings or closings in your life reveal about how you have been shaped by life?
Alignment is powerful. But without awareness, it quietly becomes limitation.
Why Your Faith Feels So Hard to Change
There was a time when my faith felt clear. I knew what I believed. I knew how the world worked. I knew what it meant to follow God. There was a clearly recognizable structure, a way of seeing everything that gave me confidence. It held my life together. And for a long time, it worked.
But what I didn’t understand then, and what many of us don’t understand until much later, is this: We don’t just believe our faith. We are shaped and formed by it. And that formation runs far deeper than we often have the eyes to fully see.
The Problem Most of Us Don’t See
If you’re reading this, it’s possible something in your faith no longer fits:
- Maybe it feels tight and rigid, like you can’t breathe.
- Perhaps it feels fragile, which is frightening.
- Maybe it feels like it’s starting to fall apart under the weight of real life.
And you’re asking questions like:
- Why does this feel so hard to untangle?
- Why can’t I just “adjust” what I believe and move on?
- Why does this feel like I’m losing part of myself?
Here’s Why:
Because your faith is not just a set of beliefs; it’s a way of being in the world that has been forming you for years, maybe decades.
How Faith Actually Forms You
We tend to think of faith as something intellectual. We say things like:
- “I believe this.”
- “I don’t believe that anymore.”
- “I’m questioning these doctrines.”
But intellectual belief (as important and valuable as it is) is only one layer. Underneath that are practices, rhythms, environments, and relationships that quietly shape how you see everything.
Think about it:
- The sermons you heard every week.
- The language you used to describe God.
- The expectations of your community.
- The way you were taught to read the Bible.
- The things you were told were “right” and “wrong.”
- The subtle pressure to stay aligned, or else!
All of that, and more, has formed you. Not just what you think, but:
- What you feel.
- What you fear.
- What you trust.
- What you avoid.
- What you assume is true without questioning.
Over time, this becomes your internal operating system. You don’t notice it; you just live inside it as it continues to define your life and relationship with God and others.
My Own Formation
I didn’t set out to build a rigid faith. I was sincere. I was committed. I wanted to follow God faithfully. And I did what many of us do: I trusted the system I was faithfully following.
- I learned how to interpret Scripture the “right” way.
- I learned what it meant to be “faithful.”
- I learned how to explain the world and God through that lens.
And slowly, without realizing it, that system became:
- My identity.
- My authority structure.
- My sense of safety.
- My way of making sense of reality.
It gave me clarity, which was very comforting. But it also quietly limited what I could see.
Why This Matters More Than You Think
When your faith begins to shift, you might assume you’re just adjusting ideas. But what’s actually happening is much deeper. You’re not just changing beliefs; you’re confronting:
- The structure that gave your life meaning.
- The system that shaped your identity.
- The lens through which you’ve interpreted reality.
That’s why it feels disorienting, confusing, and scary. It’s an emotional time where everything you have built is at stake. Like Jesus on the cross, the future looks dark and foreboding. Because in a very real sense… It is.
The Hidden Cost of Inherited Faith
Most of us inherit our faith long before we ever examine it. We absorb it from:
- Family.
- Church.
- Culture.
- Leaders we trust.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. But there is a hidden danger: We can confuse what we were given with what is ultimately true.
We assume:
- This is just “the way things are.”
- This is what genuine faith looks like.
- This is what the real God is like.
Until something disrupts it.
I Don’t Like Disruption, Do You?
Disruption, another word for it is “deconstruction.” For me, deconstruction didn’t come all at once.
- It came slowly.
- Through life experiences.
- Through welcoming sources of mentoring and leadership I previously rejected.
- Through crisis: COVID, war in Ukraine, my own personal and leadership failures.
- Through living in environments where the easy answers no longer made sense.
Eventually, I found myself facing a question I couldn’t ignore:
What happens when the life I’m living doesn’t match the faith I was taught?
That’s where many people begin to feel the tension, leading to a deeper question:
Is something wrong with me, or with the structure I’ve been trusting, or both?
The Courage to See Your Formation
The first step forward is not changing your beliefs. It’s becoming aware of how you were formed. That takes courage. Because it means stepping back and asking:
- Why do I see the world this way?
- Who taught me this?
- What assumptions have I never questioned?
- What have I been afraid to look at?
This is not about rejecting your past; it’s about understanding it.
What You Can Do Right Now
If you’re starting to feel the tension in your faith, here are three grounded steps you can take:
1. Name What Has Formed You
Write it down:
- Key influences.
- Teachings that shaped you.
- Environments that reinforced your beliefs.
Don’t judge them, reject them, or become a loud-mouthed, angry prophet devoted to reforming what you see is wrong. Clarity brings freedom and leads to soft, gentle, and peaceful re-alignment.
2. Separate Belief from Identity
- You are not your belief system.
- You are a person shaped by it, but not defined by it.
- This distinction matters more than you realize.
3. Allow Questions Without Panic
Questions are not threats (though they may be seen as threats by your peers). Questions are invitations. You don’t need to resolve everything immediately.
A Different Way to See This
What if this moment you’re in is not a failure of faith…but the beginning of a deeper one? What if what feels like instability…is actually awareness? And what if awareness…is the first step toward something more real?
Reflection Questions
Take a few minutes and sit with these:
1. What shaped my faith more than I realized?
2. Where did I learn to see God the way I do?
3. What assumptions have I never questioned?
4. What feels like it’s starting to shift, and why?
Closing Thought
You are not broken because your faith is shifting. You are becoming aware of something that has been shaping you all along. And awareness…is where real transformation begins.
Let’s journey together. Email me at michael@michaelpratt.org.
Hang in there, you’re not alone, and thanks for reading.
