Faith to believe

“How may I have the faith to truly believe in Jesus Christ? I want to, it would make life much simpler . . . but without some sort of divine confirmation I don’t feel that I can truly believe the story of Jesus Christ as the Bible tells. I feel guilt over this. I am a sinner, and I do need God in my life. But how may I be positive that the story of the trinity is 100 percent correct? I feel I need a divine intervention to have unshakable faith.” (an e-mail from California)

First, the Bible says that "it is by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith, grace and salvation all come from God. God promised He would supply it, so why mistrust Him when He has proved His own faithfulness?

Does life get simpler when we believe? Well, Jesus did promise us abundant life, but that hinges on the fact that we turn from the sins He paid for on the cross--He died to pay the penalty for our sins. Life is only better knowing that we can be free from the penalty of sin when we turn from our sin and put our faith and trust in His finished work.

Imagine you are on an airplane. Would you put a parachute on if I told you it would make your flight better? Probably not because it is big, bulky, causes your comfort range to shrink, people might point and laugh--and if you spilled coffee on yourself, you would be more inclined to stand up, take the 'chute off and wonder how your flight is better, not to mention you would feel cheated and angry. But if I told you that you had to jump at 29,000 feet, you would not care how you looked, felt or how much coffee you had spilled on you.

Take a look at the Ten Commandments and discover how each one of us has offended Holy God, but in His grace and mercy He was not content to let man die in his sins. He stepped into time and space as a man, not to "make our flight better," but He lived a perfect life and died the death we deserve--then came to life again three days later to validate the payment. If we die in our sins, we get the hell we deserve--that's the jump to come. Will you put the parachute on?

What, exactly do you not believe about the story of Jesus Christ, as the Bible tells? If you feel guilt, you should listen to what God is telling your conscience--He gave it to you--you already know what is true. Don't run the risk of taking what you know to be true and rationalize it away.

How can you know the Trinity is correct? Consider (for example) also who I am as a person--a guy who is answering your e-mail. Am I answering it as a father, a husband or a son? I am three persons, but am also one person. There are some things I must do as a father that I could never do as a son or husband. There are some things I can only do as a son that I could not do as a father or husband. There are some things I can do only as a husband . . . you get the idea. Be careful about making a god of your own understanding--that's breaking the 1st and 2nd commandment.

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