What Do You [Really] Believe?

What do you really believe?

Is there God? Is God best understood as the three-in-one—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Do you think it matters what you believe?

Are your beliefs guided by Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed or by the teachings of your church or is the Bible your guide? Perhaps there are other religious writings that influence what you believe.

Have you delved into some philosopher’s teachings and concluded that a. there is no God, or b. we cannot know with any certainty there is God? Does it matter to you?

Do you look out at a world that seems to have gone mad and wonder, if there is God why does God allow so much evil?

Has a church or the teachings of a church hurt you, left you feeling worthless, caused your life to be filled with bitterness and the accompanying anger? In your struggles—emotional, mental, spiritual, physical—has the church discouraged you more than she has encouraged you? Has a church used the scriptures to beat you up instead of offering you hope? Is that why you question whether or not there is God?

When it comes to faith, do you believe what others have told you to believe, or have you given thought to what YOU believe?

Is it all too confusing? Do you wonder whose right? Is the way you’ve been taught the only way, or are there others? When the world was big, and we only knew our own communities, we could view the people of the world through whatever lens we were given, but now, now that the world is small and we know people and/or communicate with people from all over the world, it’s harder to reconcile some of our beliefs with our life experiences. So, if there is God, can we know whether or not our view—the God in whom we believe—is the right view?

Arguing before the intellectuals of Athens—the great center of learning—the Apostle Paul posited, “So that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though he is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:27) He went on to quote the poet Epimenides, who lived six centuries before Christ was born, “In him we live and move and have our being.” If we are searching for God; if we are groping to find God, we should note what the apostle said to the learned people of Athens, “He is not far from each one of us.” For many of us, our God is too small; for we have put God in our own box instead of seeing how big God is—“the one in whom we live and move and have our being.” God is bigger than our belief systems. God is bigger than our denominations. God is bigger than our human-developed theologies. God is the “the one in whom we live and move and have our being.”

We should never place limits on God.

Writing to the Christians in Corinth, in his first letter to them, Paul teaches us, “For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.” He goes on to tell us, “And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.” (See 1 Corinthians 2:11 and 13.)

We must open our minds and our hearts, as Paul told the intellectuals of Athens, to search for or grope for God. If we search for God with a closed mind, how can we find him? If we are not willing to grope for God; that is to struggle with what we believe and why we believe it, how can we know? The questions we must ask ourselves: Is it worth the effort? Is it worth the struggle? Do we really want to know?

Would it be easier if God came to us with a great display of his power?

“O that you would tear open the heavens

and come down,

so that the mountains would quake at your presence…” (Isaiah 64:1)

Would that convince you that God exist?

But here we are, strugglers on the road of life, struggling with our troubles, our pains, our beliefs, and so much more? Why doesn’t God do as the prophet asked and tear open heaven and come down with a full display of his presence? Why is faith required of us?

If God came and caused the mountains to quake, would everyone then believe?

Suppose we start here…

“From ages past no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who works for those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 64:4)

Yes, over the “ages” there have been, and still are, many gods recognized in various cultures around the globe. So, we must not lose sight of what the prophet said, “Who works for those who wait for him.” Hold that thought for a moment.

Now…let’s read on…

“You meet those who gladly do right,

those who remember you in your ways.” (Isaiah 64:5)

From the beginning of the scriptures we learn, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, Abraham was made right by faith, Moses learned the importance of faith, Rahab the prostitute of Jericho had faith God would spare her and her family, and so many more learned to live and die by faith. Now, we have been told that we live by faith. (See Hebrews 11.)

We can only know God by faith.

We have a complete revelation of God in Christ Jesus.

Is God worth the struggle?

Is faith important enough for us to give our time and effort to it?

Do you see faith in Christ as a ticket to heaven?

Do you see faith in Christ as a way of life here and now?

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;

we are clay, and you are our potter;

we are the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

What do you believe?

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