On Faith

On Faith
The Psalmist wrote,

“Praise the LORD, all you nations; 

extol him, all you peoples. 

For great is his love toward us,

 and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. 

Praise the LORD.” 

                           Psalm 117:1,2.

Written above is Psalm 117 in it’s entirety. It make it clear that all nations and all peoples should praise God.
The choice however is up to you. God in creating mankind did not make robots programmed to do his bidding.
He made individuals with complete freedom of choice.
He gave each individual the same option. Believe in Him by faith or reject him. The writer of Hebrews stating,

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 

                                                          Hebrews 11:6

The writer of Hebrews defining faith as,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for

 and certain of what we do not see.”  

                                                Hebrews 11:1

To my way of thinking God asks us to have faith in Him because it is one of the hardest things for an individual to do.
It is very easy to believe in someone or something you see but it is incredibly hard for many people to believe in things they do not see.
Please think about it.

A Matter of Faith

A Matter of Faith
The writer of Hebrews tells us,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for 

and 

certain of what we do not see.”  

                                  Hebrews 11:1

“And without faith it is impossible to please God,

 because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 

                                                    Hebrews 11:6

No one can or should even try to force anyone to believe in anyone or anything. Trying to force someone to believe in something produces false faith.
False faith is useless. Something God certainly dose not want from anyone.
I believe in order to have faith in God or for that matter anything one needs to look at the evidence. That to my way of thinking is why God inspired the Bible to be written.
The writers present the truth about God and ask the individual to believe them, or not.
The Bible however does not stop there. It encourages the reader to look around them. The Psalmist writing,

“The heavens declare the glory of God;

 the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” 

                                                Psalm 19:1

The Psalmist encourages the reader to look at the world around them and see how perfectly made it is. From the greatest galaxy to the smallest subatomic particle, all are arranged perfectly for life to exist as we know it. Showing a divine creator.
I firmly believe science done right will ultimately show the there is a creator behind it all.
That being said it still comes down to faith. Believers in God are in many ways like a scientist. A scientist postulates a theory from what he sees and has faith in that theory until it is proved or disproved.
Albert Einstein is a classic example. Some of his theories were never proven to be correct until after his death yet he believed they were right.
So it is with a Christian we believe we are right in our belief in God and Jesus Christ, even though we will never prove it for certain until the day we stand before God after our death. That faith however costs us nothing.
I like what Blaise Pascal said of faith in God. He wrote,
“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists”. Blaise Pascal.
Please think about it.

You, Jesus & God

You, Jesus & God
The Apostle Paul wrote,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18.
If you think about it we who believe in Christ Jesus are asking the world at first glance to believe in foolishness.
The apostle John wrote,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.... 
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-3,11-14
We Christians believe Jesus is God incarnate. God in the flesh. That He came to earth to show mankind the way to heaven.
Jesus speaking of himself said,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

 but to save the world through him.” 

                                         John 3:16,17.

Christians believe that no one can live a life good enough to stand before a Holy God. That we sin. Sin is failing to do what God wants us to do consciously or otherwise. The apostle Paul tells us,

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 and are justified freely by his grace 

through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

                                                                   Romans 3:23,24.

The apostle John noting,

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins 

and purify us from all unrighteousness.  

If we claim we have not sinned, 

we make him out to be a liar

 and his word has no place in our lives.” 

                                                              1 John 1:9,10.

The apostle Paul tells us,
It is by faith we get to heaven, by the grace of God. We cannot work our way to heaven.,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith

and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

 not by works, so that no one can boast.”  

                                                           Ephesians 2:8,9

Faith defined by the writer of Hebrews as,

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for 

and certain of what we do not see.” 

                            Hebrews 11:1

The same writer noting

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”

Hebrews 11:6

C. S. Lewis said of Christianity,

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." C. S. Lewis.

Thus the question becomes, How important is Jesus to you?
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind?
Please think about it.