Do You Believe?

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. (John 1:1-4 NLT)

“But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:12-16 NLT)

Last week, we talked about how Christians need to lead a life set apart from the world. Light and darkness cannot coexist. They are always opposite forces to one another. Perhaps I should have started with today’s subject,  because before we can be different from the world, we have to know what we believe. The Bible teaches that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews11:6). Faith is understanding and believing that something is true even without physical evidence of it. For example, I believe that I have been born again into the kingdom of God through receiving salvation from Jesus Christ and will live for eternity with God. I have not seen this manifested yet, but I believe it.

The scriptures chosen for today’s entry are important for understanding what we as Christians believe. We cannot take God’s word and pick apart the items and scriptures that we like and leave the ones we don’t. Many people question the truth of the Bible because it was written by man, but it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT)

If we as Christians do not believe that the word of God is true, then we will be easily persuaded that anything could be right. It is these doubts that make it simple for the enemy to convince us that God isn’t who He says. In Genesis, Satan convinced Eve that she shouldn’t listen or obey God’s instructions, and that is where the fall of Man began (Genesis 3:1-13).

Many people struggle with the monotheism of the Bible, declaring there is only one God and one way to obtain eternal life (John 14:6). Some  Christian denominations have suggested and adhered to doctrine that does not align with what was revealed in the New Testament of the Bible. Being raised in the Catholic Church, I was taught that people would go to purgatory after death. They would have to atone for sins there, become purified in order to enter heaven. This is not supported by Biblical scripture. It takes away from the mercy and grace provided by Jesus Christ when he gave his life on that cross. Jesus declared, “It is finished” (John 29:30). When we receive salvation, we are no longer sinners. We are a new creature. We can still sin, but with true repentance, we are forgiven – we can’t earn it. We cannot atone for something that has already been bought by the blood of Christ.

It is more essential than ever that we read God’s word and decide for ourselves what we will place our faith in: the world (man’s sense of righteousness and morality, corrupted by our flesh) or God and His word. We only need to look at the growing darkness of the world to see that truth without God to guide us leads to destruction. So, do you have faith in God and His word? Without it, fear and doubt will have the victory over your life.