To believe, love, and follow God requires more than ritually keeping a bunch of rules. I think believers and non-believers alike struggle with making Christianity simply about rules. Let me get to the meat of what I’m saying: If Christianity was only about following a bunch of rules, then we don’t have a strong reason for believing in God. This is where I believe people without a true foundation in Christ get swept under by the religions and lifestyles of the world. When Christianity is leveled to rules, the world becomes more appealing. And the world has a better argument for not choosing God when God is made into some kind of impersonal and power-hungry dictator.
With that said, the real question I’m going to tackle in this post is: Why believe in God? Ask yourself that question: Why do I believe in God? If you think Christianity is only about rules, then you will struggle to answer this question. Sorry for sounding harsh, but my goal in this post is to get you thinking. God gave us a brain and the ability to reason for a purpose.
I’m asking you this personal question because it is a question I wrestled with from middle school into college. My faith was weak in my pre-teen and teen years. I leveled Christianity to a bunch of rules. God was some distant being to call on in my worst times and He was there to help me get to heaven. I had a wrong view of God in that time of my life. If I was asked “Why do you believe in God?”, I honestly don’t think I would’ve had an answer. I didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus in those years, so I didn’t have a grounded reason to believe in Him. I was simply focused on following the rules God laid out in the Bible to make me feel and look like a “good” person.
With that said, sometime in my junior year of high school, God was working on my heart and giving me the reason to believe in Him. He was turning my focus to Himself and away from myself. That was my issue—I was searching for the answers in myself and by my own strength and knowledge. As my relationship with Jesus grew and developed, He provided me with my answer to this question. This answer had three main parts to it that every person wants to know: identity, purpose, and hope. When we have the answers to these three things, we are made whole and complete. Jesus Christ is the only one who can fully provide these.
I think we all can agree that we desire a sure and true answer to who we are (identity), an understanding of what we’re supposed to do (purpose), and a clear vision of where we’re going and why (hope). Again, only Jesus can provide all of this. The reason being—life is all about Jesus. First, our identity is in Him. We are made in God’s image. Our image is meant to reflect Him, pointing others to Him. This requires us to seek an understanding in who we were made for and why, and how we were separated from God by our sin. As sinners, we then need to recognize our need for a Savior and our new identity in Him. Second, our purpose is in Him. We were made to honor, glorify, and praise God in all that we say and do. We do this best by sharing the good news of Jesus with everyone around us. But the only way we can do this is by intentionally growing and building a relationship with Jesus. Third, our hope is in Him. Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins and God the Father raised Him from the grave to defeat death, eternal life is open to us. We who place our faith in God and His work, can rest in the fact that sin and death are not in our future. Jesus made a way for us to live forever with Him. He alone is our hope. We can look forward to life in eternity with Jesus.
The hard truth is that life isn’t about us. It was never meant to be about us. It’s about a personal Savior, fully man and fully God, willingly sacrificing Himself to set us free from our sin and rising from the dead on the third day so that we could be welcomed into His family and truly live. He did this at no cost to us. He did this because He loves us enough to die for us so that we could live to experience what it means to be sons and daughters of God. This is extraordinary news! It’s a message not from this world. And it’s an open invitation to all.
So, I ask again: Why do you believe in God? Consider praying to ask God to open your heart to Him and letting Him reveal Himself to you. Dig into His Word and discover who God says He is. Meet with other Christians and ask them to answer this question. Your #1 task as you wrestle with this question is to get to know God. One of the best ways to do this is by looking at His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible is a great place to see Jesus (Check out my post: 4 Things to Know about the Bible). I challenge and encourage you with this task. Let me know in the comments below how God works on you through this.
Here are some passages from the Bible to help you learn more about your identity, purpose, and hope in Christ:
Identity: Galatians 3:26-4:7, Ephesians 2:11-22, Genesis 1:26-27
Purpose: Matthew 28:16-20, Colossians 3:12-17, Titus 3:3-8, 2 Peter 1:3-11
Hope: Ephesians 2:1-22, Colossians 1:15-23, Romans 8
