Shamelessly using a bit from Shakespeare: To Believe or Not to Believe; that is a defining question. Most people derive what they believe from those that influence them the most, or life circumstances, or even cultural norms. But when I ask the question, “What do you believe and why do you believe it?”, most people give a half hearted answer about their beliefs and really don’t have an answer as to why they believe that way; they simply answer, “I just believe it”.
Looking back over my life and asking this same question of myself, I realize that I had various directions I could have gone in my belief system. Both sides of my family believed in good morals, yet one side’s definition of morality was different than the other side of my family. So who was right, which side should I follow, and do I follow their words or their actions? These were perplexing questions. Then there were outside influencers: friends, peers, teachers, ministers, other adults, etc. They each had different ideas, thoughts, and persuasions as to what was truth and what was not. So, which one was right, who should I follow, and do I follow their words or their actions?
As a young child, I had another influencer. When I was 7 years old I had an experience with God that destroyed any question in my mind whether or not God existed. So believing that there was a God became a no brainer for me, and I was pretty confident that Jesus from the Bible was the one with whom I had the encounter. Now where Jesus was concerned, each one of the influencers in my life had different opinions as to what believing in Jesus meant. Each one with a variation of knowledge that they believed to be truth, yet their variations were so different, I asked how could they all be right? Could they all be right, and if not, which one or ones were right, and who do I follow, and do I follow their words or their actions?
35 years later, I find myself a father who is now one of those influencers in the lives of three great children, and a pastor for a great congregation of adults and children, all with the same questions I had as a child, “Who is right, who do I follow, and do I follow their words or actions. As a father, I have tried to live an exemplary life before my children. I wanted them to see me live out what I believed before them. I made terrible mistakes along the way, and I am sure one time or another I have let them down, and will probably do so again, at some point in the future. As a pastor, I try to live out what I believe before the people in my congregation and try to be the best role model I can, but as with my children, I will eventually fail them. So, even as hard as I try, the question remains, “who is right, who do we follow, and do we follow their words or their actions?
After years on this journey looking for an answer, I have come to some conclusions. First, there is a God and he loves each of us. He exists in the form of three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Second, he is a sovereign God and he wouldn’t expect something from us that he hasn’t communicated to us. He has communicated his will for us in the Bible and all it takes is a little study to determine that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” ~ 2 Timothy 3:16. What he requires is our willful obedience to him, which opposes our own will and desires. Lastly, although you can have good preachers, ministers, or influencers of many kinds, it’s up to us to study and work out our own salvation, with fear and trembling, for God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
To believe or not to believe, that is a defining question that only you can answer, but can’t be answered on a whim, or by the influence of others, or even just because you think it should be that way. This question can only be answered with study of truth for the sake of truth. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:7-9
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