Believe

First I just want to say that I LOVE the Lifeway material for our sunday school class for the youth. It is the "Known" series and it is good stuff. Anyway, we've been following this curriculum for a while and it has been a whole series on how we are sinful, we can't fix it on our own, but God can because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, etc..... I had a discussion with a girl who said, "I don't know if I even believe in God." That got me to thinking about what that means to believe in God. Then the very next Wednesday, Jeff asked, "What does it mean to believe in something?" My first thought has always been, "To know it is real." Now that means something totally new to me.

I started thinking about the things that we believe in and why we believe in it. We believe in something because we see the effects of it. We believe that air is there (even though we don't see it) because we see the effects through the wind and the leaves moving. Also.....it gives breath and life. We believed in Santa Clause because we saw the gifts he left behind and the evidence that he was there because of the leftover cookie crumbs.

Then I became convicted. We believe that God exists but don't believe what he can do. We don't believe in the evidence that He can leave behind. A few years ago, God just merely existed to me, but I didn't believe in his power until I allowed it to work in me and through me. Now I believe. I see the evidence. I have seen what he can do. I believe that he has turned my bitter and cold heart into one that beats for him. I believe that he has changed the most apathetic man into one of the most disciplined men I have ever seen. I believe that God has provided in a situation that seemed financially impossible. I believe that God has taken 2 very lost and sinful people and used them to bring others closer to Him. Not at all am I saying that I have arrived.....there are many things that I am still struggling to believe that God can do.

I looked up the definition of believe and it said...

to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something

Ok, I really like words....and the word that stuck out most to me is 'have' (oddly enough...it is just one little word) because it means I can possess this.

I have also heard that it means "to trust what one has heard or seen." I almost don't like that definition because it insinuates that I can't experience God for myself. I don't have to just hear about him from someone else's story. I can see his goodness, efficacy, and ability to do powerful, life changing things in my own life if I choose to let him move.