A PLEA FOR BELIEF

A PLEA FOR BELIEF

Reading of Jeremiah in the OT and John the Baptist in the NT has made me think of our current times and the need for someone to cry out in the wilderness of our culture, “BELIEVE!”  Just as these prophets knew that change was coming, I believe that God is calling out to us now…change is coming! None of us know how many earth days we have left; we can be taken into eternity without a moment’s notice.  The day of Christ’s return is closer than it has ever been, we can be assured of that.  Once either of these events happens, there is no more opportunity to change our minds about what we believe.  But today is ours, while we still have breath, God gives us the ability to choose our course, to determine in our hearts what we will believe about Him.  Please, please, please, take a few moments to consider the thoughts below.

There are so many, many different belief systems floating around now, that many will say, “Oh, I do believe…maybe not as you do, but my belief is just as valid as yours.”  While that may work for today, and for tomorrow, I am convinced that there will come a day that only one belief system will be valid…the belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, at whose name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He alone is Lord over all.

Philippians 2:9  Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That is why I am so urgently asking you to truly examine belief in Christ.  Do not reject Him without at least examining and pondering the possibility of His truth. 

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I understand that I am not the most scholarly theologian who has ever stated their arguments for their beliefs, but I am sincere, and I ask you to read through the simplicity of why I believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit:

1.        Because I am not an atheist.  I cannot look around at all of creation, at humanity, at the universe and accept the fact that all of this very balanced order came out of chaos.  The probabilities of such an occurrence are just too minute to offer this as an answer that I can believe in.  The human body is too intricately detailed in its design to have been formed without a designer.  So, if there is a “someone” out there, who/what is it?

Genesis 1:1  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Romans 1:20  "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities---His eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”

2.       Because the need for a creator forces me to seek to know who that creator is.  Here’s where multiple versions of gods come into play…the Greeks had them, the Romans had them, and boy does our current day culture have them.   Once you’ve decided that there probably is “a god”, you need to decide who that god is.   You can pick and choose from a plethora of gods, or you can mix and match and make up your own god, or you can determine that you are actually god.  (Although if that’s the conclusion you come to, I’d really like to hear how you brought the entire universe into being!)  All of these theologies are available to us.  And it’s not because we have developed into such an intellectual or philosophical society---the same situation was present in Athens when Paul spoke to them.

Acts 17:22 “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, ‘People of Athens!  I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at our objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:  TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.  So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship---and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.’”

3.       Because that out of all the god stories offered, there is only one that conveys a God who cares enough about His creation to make Himself known to them…the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The God who chose Israel as His witness…not just to favor them among the nations, but for them to testify of His power to the nations.  When they followed His commands they were blessed, and when they did not, He allowed them to be taken into captivity.  Throughout the OT there are multitudes of verses conveying God’s desire that Israel witness to the world of His power.  He wants to be known for who He is to all peoples.  Can any other god story offer that?

Deuteronomy 4:5-8 “See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.   Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?  And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”

Joshua 4:23-24 “For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over.  The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what He had done to the Red Sea when He dried it up before us until we had crossed over.  He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful….”

1 Chronicles 16:24  “Tell the nations about His splendor, tell all the nations about His miraculous deeds!”

Isaiah 55:4  “Look, I made him a witness to nations…”

4.       Because of the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth.  From God’s desire to be known by His creation, and His overriding love for them, at precisely the right time He took the next step…Israel’s role as His nation of witness and testimony also led to the birth of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, into the world…actually in the flesh…He came to share who God is and how much He loves humanity.  Can any other god story show a god who would go to this measure to show who He is to His creation? 

Luke 1:68-79  “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and redeemed His people, He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David…to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”

John 1:14  “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

5.       Because of what God revealed to us through Jesus.  He showed us that He is a God of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and absolute love.  But also that He is a God of justice and holiness.  That He will not accept us as His children if we are rebellious to His nature, that we must accept His Lordship over our lives, and allow Him to transform us to His nature, not being “stiff-necked” and self-willed.  This takes submission on our part, humbling ourselves to acknowledge that He is God, and that we are His creation, created to bring Him glory.  Does any other god story show us who we are to be?

Matthew 22:37-39  “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 5:4x-48  “I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven…

…Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

6.       Because of what Jesus did for us while He was on earth.  He lived a perfect life of love for others, showing no preferential treatment to those who held power or wealth; transforming the minds of twelve common men to allow them to see eternal truths.  He then, in the greatest act of love ever, took all the world’s rebellion against His Father to the cross, in shame and agony, bore it so that God the Father, in all His holiness, could look down upon His creation in mercy, without judgment, and again accept them.  Forgiveness is available to all who come to God in repentance and acceptance of Jesus’ atonement for their shortcomings, failures and rebellion.  Does any other god story show that kind of action driven out of love?

Matthew 4:18-19  “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’”

Matthew 28:19  “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 5:8   “For God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

 2 Corinthians 5:20b-21  “We implore you on Christ’s behalf:  Be reconciled to God.  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

7.       Because of the ultimate display of God’s power.  God the Father delivered His Son from the dead and raised Him to life again.  Jesus witnesses to God’s power over death to over 500 people in the 40 days after his crucifixion.  The things He must have relayed to those people in those days!  Amazing!  Lives forever changed…lives now dedicated to spreading the truth of God’s story, and a mission instilled to take these words of God throughout the world.  This mission would cause many, including eleven of the twelve apostles, to die martyrs’ deaths.  Would all these people die for a lie?   They were not dying for a “belief”, they were dying for what they had seen…Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension.  Does any other god story witness to that kind of power over death? 

Acts 1:1-3  “In my former book Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen.  After His suffering, he showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-6  “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:  That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.  After that He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time…”

8.       Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit!  Not only did God show His power through Israel, His love through Jesus Christ, but now He shares His presence with us through the Holy Spirit living within us.  When we acknowledge who He is, what He has done, and our hopelessness without Him, He delivers His promised gift…the Holy Spirit, as His guarantee that we not only are His in this life, but for eternity and to impart His power through us.  Does any other god story offer that kind of transformation of lives? 

Acts 2:38  “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”

Galatians 5:25  “We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.”

9.       Because of our promised future…what other god story promises what is ahead for those who adhere to its belief?  We have that promise…Jesus is coming again to claim His own.  If we die prior to His return, we are told that we will pass from this life into the next.  We don’t pass with uncertainty; we can absolutely know where we are going.  That is why we can have true joy and peace now---there is no fear of death, for our God lives, He loves us, and He will never leave us nor forsake us. 

John 11:26  “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die.”

John 14:1-3  “ ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in Me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’ “

Acts 1:11 “ ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.’ “  

1 John 5:13  “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

10.   Because God longs for us to be at home with Him.  There’s not another god story that I know of that shows the absolute desire of God to bring His children home to Him.  He went to great lengths to ensure that we can have that home, but He still leaves the choice to us…what will we choose to believe?  

Luke 15:20-24 “While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for his son.  So the father ran to him and hugged and kissed him…. ‘My son was dead, but now he is alive again!  He was lost, but now he is found!’  So they began to celebrate.”

2 Peter 3:9  “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.  Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

What will we choose to believe?  If any of this makes sense to you, or seems like it might make sense, please pray to God to soften your heart so that your eyes may be opened to see Him, to know His truths. Or find a good Christian friend to sit down and talk through the statements above, or other thoughts and questions that you may have, and explore the possibility that the Bible contains God’s truths for this life and for life eternal. 

This is the most important thing you can do in your life --- choose to believe in Jesus --- He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one can come to the Father except through Him…He is the Way that God brought to us as our Savior.  God is not a god of chaos, but of order.  It does not seem illogical to me that He would give us only one way to Him, a very clear and defined way, but a way that requires belief.  Bend your knee in prayer and ask…that’s a challenge.  Just pray and ask for truth, God’s truth, and see what He brings to you. 

Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.  When you are in distress and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

Deuteronomy 30:19  “This day I call the heavens and earth as witnesses before you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.  For the LORD is your life…”