Believe it or not J this blog article will address the foundational issue to everything! Does that sound like a stretch? In order to understand all I am writing about on this website and in order to look beyond your own limited sight and better understand the world we live in, you must come to understand belief. Please read on and try to follow my reasoning here. This article is indeed quite appropriate on this most significant historical day—Easter or Resurrection Sunday! . . .
What does it mean to believe? What exactly is faith anyway? This subject is so important, that I will be addressing it more with the last of my Top Ten Lessons (tabbed above): “Hope in Faith.” Well, faith or belief is almost better understood by knowing what it is not. My 11-13-08 Blog: “Faith and Tragedy” also discusses this. Simply put, faith is not sight. It is not directly observable or else it would be sight. It is trust, it is belief. To NOT Believe is to isolate yourself to only your limited thinking and observation and is indeed a Tragedy.
None of us knows everything or is in every place at the same time. Since reality proves that we cannot comprehend every bit of information that is and since we are limited to wherever our body is located, it is simply impossible for us to objectively evaluate or review the reality of everything that is happening in all places (see also my discussion in the 05-23-08 Blog, “THINKING What?”). This does not make the reality of what is happening in any given place less objective; it just means that we do not have the ability to observe it all at the same time with our limited sight. If we could, then we would be GOD. Foundationally, our limitations mean that each one of us must, to at least some degree, live by faith.
Now, the next question that comes is the nature or accuracy of our faith and how that corresponds to what reality is. This is where it is important to KNOW, as much as you can know, WHAT you can trust and WHY you can trust it (again, you may want to review my related articles from May of ’08: “THINKING Why?” and “THINKING What?”).
Oh friend, you CANNOT ultimately trust in the ever changing opinions of man. You CAN and should trust in the unchanging revelation of God! His revelation is revealed in His Creation, in His Covenants (the Bible), and most importantly in the Person of JESUS CHRIST. Jesus, as a human being, is how we can understand God, who is Spirit (c.f. John 4:24). All the fullness of the essence of God dwells in Jesus (see Colossians 2:9). You can trust in Jesus and you have good reason to do so because HE rose from the dead! If you doubt that, then you need to take a closer look and study the Resurrection of Christ. Many, even skeptics, have done so, and thus become believers in Jesus (there are many examples here, though Josh McDowell is one living example you may be familiar with).
Please take this day as you are reading this blog article and consider the Truth of what I am saying. If you doubt, then study it out. Your very life and even eternity depends on this. The Apostle Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 15:14: “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”
Please avoid the Tragedy of NOT Believing!
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