Is There a God?

Hebrews 11:1-3, 6

            So, is there a God?  Now, you would say (especially if you’re a Christian), of course I believe there is a God.  Belief in God is a great thing, even a necessary thing.  It’s certainly a whole lot better than “I think there’s a God.”  (Hope you’re not there.  Hmmm?)

            We must be careful, however, not to provoke injury by patting ourselves on the back too much for believing in God.  What did James write?: “...the demons also believe, and shudder.” - James 2:19.  In context, James is discussing faith and works (obviously a necessary discussion), but we’re not going to go there.  But we do want to consider the difference between mere belief and real faith.  To put it another way, why does one person simply believe in God, and another person develops real faith and acts upon it?  What causes that?

            For me, the short answer is: I’m not sure!  To my knowledge (which is, of course, incomplete), this isn’t revealed anywhere in scripture.  Some things come to mind which would have to fall into place.  There would be a heart which is interested in knowing the truth, not just about God but the whole of life.  This would lead to an honest examination of the available evidence.  Such evidence would include the design in creation, human capacity for morality and reasoning, the veracity of the Bible witness, and the person of Jesus Christ.  This is a condensed list.

            After such an examination, the honest heart would have to conclude that there is a God, and He is the God revealed in the Bible.  But this isn’t faith!  If we consider our two reference verses, we see that there are several things associated with faith.  There is an “assurance of things hoped for” and a “conviction of things not seen.” There is this basic belief about God that “He is” - in other words, He exists; He is real.  Here we begin to move from “I believe there is a God” to “I know there is a God.”  This is a sea change in perspective.

            So real faith begins to “seek Him” - to want to know Him - to want to serve Him - to experience the reward He has promised.  Living faith will act.  Dead faith lies “useless” (James 2:18-20).

            I would appreciate your thoughts on my thoughts here.

                                                            ><>  Jeff