Saturday, August 3, 2019

DOES IT MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE


“And without faith it is impossible to please God.”
-Hebrews 11:6

Does it make any difference what you believe, just so that you believe it with all your heart? Millions of men and women would answer no. They would respond that it does not make much difference what you believe as long as you believe it will all your might. Some would perhaps add that all religions lead to the same place if you do your best and follow the teaching.

A number of prominent medical authorities recognize the therapeutic power of belief as opposed to the debilitating and unhealthy effects of doubt and skepticism.

Several months ago, I was on an airplane when it was hit with a strong turbulence. Trays of food were dumped left and right. The coffee cup I was holding stayed in my hand while the coffee spiraled towards the ceiling in an eerie column for a few seconds before it dropped. Most of it missing the cup. I turned to the young man seated next to me and said, “This turbulence would make even an atheist a little more unsure of himself, wouldn’t it?”

He smiled and we joked for a minute. But the incident did trigger off a rather serious discussion on the importance of faith. As our plane tossed back and forth, I said to the young man, “It isn’t my faith in those jet engines that is going to get us to our destination, it is their power to lift us above the storm. No matter how great my faith in them, if they have not the power to overcome the force of gravity and the turbulence of the storm, we are in trouble.”

That is the big difference between faith and belief and faith in God. The validity of Christianity is not the strength of your belief, but rather its strength is in the empty tomb and God’s power that brought Jesus forth from the grave.

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