Last week, someone I know wrote a post on social media about how they didn’t believe in what the Bible teaches about Hell anymore. Others chimed in and added what they didn’t believe about the Bible. It got me thinking about how some people have faith in God and what the Holy Bible teaches, period. Others don’t (or won’t). Some pick and choose what they approve as okay and leave out the parts they don’t want to hear. But God and His Word are a package deal.
If you have questions about the reliability, Divine authorship, and integrity of the Bible, sit with this thought awhile. It makes sense to me on the deepest level and releases me from questions, replacing them with faith in God once and for all. Maybe it will for you too.
If God is truly God – all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere, the Almighty Creator of all, holy and good, and He loves us – would it not be possible for Him to write a book for us and for the ages so we can know Him? In fact, we’d expect He would. As God, wouldn’t He choose the way He wanted to record it because He’s the Author? He’d also be sure that every bit of the content it contained was true and preserved exactly as He wanted to communicate it. Otherwise, because He’s God, He would have changed it.
It’s a simple yes or no question. Do you believe this is true?
If your answer is yes, the Bible is 100% true, it’s a combination of faith – and evidence! If your answer is no, it’s most likely based on who you think God is – if He even exists. For you, faith is disengaged and evidence is not a factor.
If I had to define faith in God, I’d say this from personal experience:
It isn’t wishful thinking, an uneducated guess, or a flimsy-fluffy Victorian sentiment of sweetness from a bygone era.
Faith is the key that unlocks a truth-seeker’s soul to know God within a personal relationship. It opens the deepest door of our heart and gives us direct access to Him and His promises, wisdom, blessings, and guidance. God designed it this way – for us to individually experience His presence – transforming our life from the inside out.
Have you heard the term “doubting Thomas”? Here’s where it comes from. In John 20:29 (NIV), Jesus is speaking to Thomas, one of His disciples, after He came back to life on the third day after being crucified on the cross. Thomas didn’t believe it was actually Jesus until he was able to touch His wounds and physically see for himself it was true. He finally believed, after seeing, but then Jesus says something for all future generations (like us) to know as well:
“Then Jesus told Him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”
The proof that Jesus was the one and only risen Lord and Messiah goes far beyond that moment in time about 33 A.D. It’s a timeless truth that was never limited to physical evidence. It’s a spiritual and eternal truth we believe by faith. Let’s let that sink in a minute.
Then John goes on to say that Jesus gave us an overwhelming amount of additional evidence to demonstrate He was both fully God and fully man so our faith in Him could grow in verses 30 and 31 (NIV):
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
The last verse of the Gospel of John 21:25 (NIV) says this:
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
We’ve just scratched the surface of this vast topic that’s central to understand between ourselves and God and also one of the most important teachings of the Bible. Let’s close with a couple more questions and key verses to think about:
How important is faith to God?
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV): “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Is faith “blind” or a better way to see the truth?
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV): “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
How powerful can faith be?
Jesus Himself tells this to His disciples in Matthew 17:20b: “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Jesus is making the point that such an act doesn’t rely on a large amount of perfect faith a person has, but a person’s faith in an omnipotent God to act. HE is the source of all and with Him, nothing is impossible! (Luke 1:37)
RESET HIGHER: Right now, do you have faith and believe in God and that His Word is true? Are you a “doubting Thomas” waiting for a particular event to make you believe or you never will? Or maybe you’ve decided that there isn’t any evidence that would ever make you believe.
If you haven’t given faith a try, why not say a sincere prayer to God now and ask Him to reveal Himself to you? Then watch and listen to see what He will do in your life – personally. There are more reasons than we can count to have faith in Him and He is waiting and wanting to show them to you. Reading the Gospel of John is a great place to begin.
