Why Do You Believe That?

 “I’m an atheist; convince me to believe in your God.”

 I remember putting quite a few Christians in this position back then - when I hated God. It’s sad to say that none of them could give me a convincing argument. Now I, of course, didn’t help matters because I just didn’t want to believe. Not only did I not want to follow God, but I also did not want to believe what all those Christians were telling me about Him. See, it seemed to me that they were all just empty-minded people following a clown dressed as a pastor. They would believe anything that came out of his mouth, even if it was wrong. Even if historical facts would prove them wrong, they would still believe in what he said. This was my view as someone who had grown to hate the God I now love.

 We cannot force anybody to believe in God, only God can do that. In my life, for example, it was the Holy Spirit that really touched my heart after years of many people praying for me and trying to convince me. The part they got right was praying for me, but what kept me from finally surrendering to Him was their lack of knowledge. It appeared that none of them could tell me exactly what they believed or why they believed it. No one seemed to be able to answer my questions about creation, salvation, judgment, or Christian practices like tithing, baptism and church services.

 Sadly, 4 years and a conversion later, I still come across people in the above situation and it concerns me. After being involved in different churches for some time now I still see that many Christians just believe whatever comes from behind the pulpit. Instead of researching the Word to see if it’s accurate, we sit back on our padded seats and accept whatever is preached, believing it must be the truth. We hear it, believe it, and accept it as guidelines for living. Most, if not all, preachers base their sermons on the Scripture, but they’re not necessarily using it in the right context. So much has gone wrong since misinterpretations entered Christianity.

 This is not me judging and pointing my finger at pastors. I have relationships with some really great ones and I fully believe in the men God has called to lead us. Not all sermons are bad or misleading and I always appreciate a solid, biblical-based teaching. Rather, this is me telling you, as a believer, to perk up, search the scriptures and dig into your faith. Perhaps you will find things you never thought you would. In fact, a great resource for this, and a book and author I would highly recommend, is Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola. If we conducted church as the New Testament church was conducted, things would look much different than the way they do now. (Another great/short book on this: The Untold Story of the New Testament Church by Frank Viola). But I guess we’ll never know if we don’t research about it, eh?

 Question your faith for your own good and the sake of being able to defend what you believe. This way, when someone questions it you will know what to say. This is not just my opinion, God’s Word calls us to do this.

 People ask me, “Why don’t you tithe? Why do you have tattoos? Why do you play that music?” and other things. For all of these questions I have an answer according to the Scripture. But I love when someone asks me a new question that I don’t know the exact answer to because it prompts me to find out. It sends me to the Word of God, to godly counsel, and to prayer. It causes me to be led by the Spirit and trust Him at his words.

 At the end of the day, we need to know the Truth. It will set us free.

 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15

The Timing of His Will

 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11

 We live for God´s glory, right? He gets glory from His creation and His plan for it, but there’s no way we can get to fully understand God’s plan. No way to know the reason of every little thing in the world and that little fact right there could easily become a very obsessive and frustrating concept. There’s so much we don’t know and that we’ll never get to know because of the simple fact that we aren’t God and we will never be.

 One of the hardest things about following God and His will for our lives is to be able to trust in Him and everything that implies. Trusting that He always has the best thing in mind for us and our beloved ones, trusting that He is always with us even when we’re more afraid and alone than ever before, and also the one that captivates me the most; trusting in His timing.

 This scripture in Ecclesiastes tells us that He has made everything beautiful in its time, but let me throw this out there: what if I’m sick and God does not want to heal me right now or for many years or at all during my lifetime? It wouldn’t matter how hard I prayed, I can’t change His will. That would be a hard pill to swallow, wouldn’t it? What if God does not want us to have a long happy life but instead a very painful and harsh one? Would He still be glorified? Would we still trust in Him?

 If we live for His glory and we are willing to do anything for Him, we will blindly trust in His timing and will. Every time I pray for a stranger’s healing in the street I ask God to heal him so that He can be glorified but then I think: “Well, what if this is not the right time for this person to be healed? Is God still being glorified right now?” It’s not that I lack faith in that prayer being heard but I always want His will to prevail, even when it doesn't make sense or it is the opposite of what I’m praying for, and then I just glorify Him for what He’s up to with that person’s life.

 Before I met Christ I was so mad at God for not doing things the way I wanted Him to, but when I came across Romans 8:28 it all made sense: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Keywords here: his purpose. His desire, his ambition, his dreams for our lives. I can assure you that that is infinitely better than any of our desires, ambitions and dreams for ourselves. Thank you God for being the one in charge and not me! What a relieve!

 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

 When Paul wrote these verses he had been through all kinds of circumstances for the sake of the Gospel. You can tell he’s weary when you read it but he knows better than to get mad at God for not having a smooth ride through the nations, he fixes his eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. So let me ask again, what if we never get to be rich? Or what if we never have perfectly functioning bodies? Or what if we never get to understand why something terrible happened in our lives? Are we gonna be forever bitter about it or are we going to trust in the Unseen? All of these questions become irrelevant when we accept His will into our lives.

 His timing is perfect and so is his plan for our life, it’s a plan to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). All it takes is trust. Trust that He is in control and that whatever happens, even if we hate it, even if it hurts all the way to our very core, it’s going to be for our own good according to his purpose. It’s all for His glory.