“We believe. That’s what we do to live. Believing is like breathing: we do it, but we only know we are doing it when someone calls our attention to it.” So wrote philosopher James Sire in his book Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?
Today I am calling your attention to belief in God. I have read that surveys show that more than 80% of Americans say they believe in God. That raises questions. What kind of God? What can we know about him? Does it matter whether or not we believe in him?
James Sire was right. Belief is automatic. It is a part of what it means to be a human being. Everyone believes in all kinds of things. As far as God is concerned, the important thing is to know what and in whom and why we believe.
The Apostles’ Creed begins with the declaration, “I believe in God the Father Almighty.” This is to say more than “I think,” or “I feel,” or “I hope.” It is a declaration of trust in the God who is revealed in the Bible. It is to make a personal commitment to the truth that God exists. It says a relationship with him is possible.
Not everyone is ready for this. Some time ago student volunteers affiliated with a Christian campus ministry at an eastern university were conducting a survey of fellow students. They asked questions about belief in God. One student replied, “I think people should believe whatever they like, whether there is a God or not.”
Another said, “God is everything each person thinks of him or her.” Another student answered, “God exists in each individual and the form their God takes is entirely up to them.”
These survey responses showed that the highest authority in these students’ lives was self. There was no higher moral authority than themselves. This is hardly surprising in a postmodern society when the very idea of absolute truth is being called into question.
According to the Bible, God is more than a psychological category. He is not a philosophical construct. He exists as a “Father,” who created us and to whom we must someday be accountable. He is a living person and he invites us into a relationship with himself through Jesus his son.
The statement we read in the opening phrase of the Apostles’ Creed is based upon Bible verses like this one: “For us there is but one God the Father from whom all things came and for whom we live, and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came, and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6).
Everyone believes. What we believe determines our destiny. Several years ago a drug was being prescribed by doctors to women with problem pregnancies, for relief of morning sickness. It worked — that is, it relieved the discomfort. But unfortunately it also caused many babies to be born with birth defects and severe handicaps.
The women who took the drug were sincere in their belief that it would help them. They were misled and the consequences were devastating. The drug was, of course, withdrawn from use by pregnant women. Its side effects were too costly.
Belief in the wrong version of God or Jesus may be even more costly. It can cost you your eternal happiness. According to the Bible, “one God, the Father” is the creator, who through Jesus his son, is ready to make it possible for us to live, really live.
Our response should be to say from our hearts, “I believe!”
Pastor Randy Faulkner