One Believes With the Heart

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?  - C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

When others find out, either through my own testimony or in response to a question, that I am a Christian and a true believer in Jesus Christ they react in a few different ways.

Some may smile and politely change the subject; others might share bad church experiences they've had in the past as reasons why they are somewhat skeptical about any organized religion; yet there are those who are genuinely interested and would like to hear more.

Of course, I am always more than happy to share God's Word with anyone, anywhere, anytime. And, I suppose that people who have not yet come to Christ find us a most curious lot. After all, we believe in something that can't be seen, felt, or heard in the worldy sense.

We nourish and replenish ourselves spiritually everyday by simply reading a book. We go about helping and loving strangers, as well as each other, without any expectation of repayment or reward. We gather together on a weekly basis to give praise and worship because we want to, not because we have to. What's wrong with us?

What compels us to act like we do? If you talk to most Christians they will give you many reasons why they do what they do. But, if you try to pare these reasons down, you will discover some basic tenets that are vital to the Christian faith. Presently, let's take a look at these, shall we?

Before all else, we believe in the deity of Christ. In other words, we believe that Jesus is God (John 10:30; John 10:28). We have received salvation from our sin by Jesus' death on the cross. And through His death he gave us access to heaven and an eternal relationship with God.

God didn't have to do this for us. But He loved us so much that He sacrified His only Son for us. We received this most undeserved favor through His grace. The bottom line is that there's not a thing we can do to earn God’s favor or gain access to heaven apart from His grace (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).

The resurrection of Christ in another significant event that is critical to the Christian faith. God the father resurrected Jesus to exhibit his magnificent power and glory. All other religions are based on works or a powerless deity or person. The leaders of all other religions die and remain dead.

The Christian faith is based on Christ being crucified and resurrected to life. After all, if we deny Christ's bodily resurrection then we must deny that His work here on earth was a sufficient offering to God for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:14; John 2:19-21).

We believe in the nature of the Gospel, “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” Without a doubt, the pure gospel of Jesus Christ—His death on the cross for sinners and His resurrection to everlasting life—is central to the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Galatians 1:8-9) .

Of course, we believe in only one God. We know that there is only one God, the God of the Bible. All other “gods” are false and are no gods at all (Exodus 20:3; 1 Corinthians 8:5-6). Additionally, we believe in the concept of the Holy Trinity. Although the concept of a “three-in-one God” isn't represented by a single verse or passage, it's described frequently throughout Scripture (Matthew 28:19).

Now, while this verse mentions all three Persons of the triune God, it doesn't call them the Trinity. Thus, to understand the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, we must look at the “totality” of Scripture and glean from it the definition

Lastly, we could not consider the essentials of Christianity complete without it's most fundamental part; faith. As Christians we live with the understanding that we believe in a God we can't see (Hebrews 11:1). However, we notice His work in our lives and in His creation all around us. We carry all of this out through faith because we know that faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).

Scripture: John 20:29; John 14:1; Mark 9:24; 2 Timothy 2:15; Romans 5:8

Prayer: Holy Father, I pray that I will always be a good example to others of Your love, mercy, and grace; and may I be guided by Your all-wise hand in all ways pertaining to Your Word. Amen

May you have a blessed weekend,

Patricia