Belief In God

What does it mean to believe in God is a question that has been on my mind for such a long time and it is one that has been building and growing over the last few months. In all that I do, I think about my relationship with God and what am I doing to really make a difference in His Kingdom and when I am able to just sit down and ponder things, this is one of those questions that remains.

Almost every person that I have come across in my life has some type of a belief in God whereas only a few people that I have come in contact with do not belief in some type of God. This is not to say that there are not people who do not sincerely believe there is nothing at all out there as I have come in contact with only a few but I would guess that a majority of people on Earth believe in some type of God and how could you not when you look around and see all that is there.

Going back to the question, “what does it mean to believe in God?” is one of those that is both broad and deep. Most people say they believe in God but that does not really mean much. Believing in a supernatural being or creation simply means that you see there has to be more to life than what we can see but is believing in God just a simple belief in something more is there more to this question? Of course, to accurately answer this question one would have to consider the person asking and/or trying to answer the question.

Thinking about the belief in God leads me to believe that there must be something more to the question or idea than just thought. That is, if you truly believe in something does it not require for the individual to act it out or see it through? If we say that we believe in God then that is something similar to a majority of the world but if we sincerely believe in God then we should desire to seek out God and what He desire of us. Ralph Waldo Emerson explains “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.” This is a perfect explanation of faith.

Friedrich Nietzche was not a friend to Christianity and did not hold a fond belief of God whatsoever. Neitzche explains how “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.” C.S. Lewis informed us poetically just how important faith and the belief in something is: “You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.” Faith is something that we cannot live without in this life and without it, there is no pleasing God: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

The next question is usually “What is faith?” Saint Augustine explains that “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. “ The Bible reads tells us that “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Martin Luther explains energetically that “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” It is now evident that a belief in God requires complete faith because there are just things of this world that cannot be explained or seen. The same is true with science and while science cannot explain so much and it can never give you an exact answer (only an estimation), people still put their entire faith in it so what is the difference between the uncertainty of science and the faith in God?

Romans 10:17 reads “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” This is our foundation as faith comes from God and God is alive in His Word: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). A believe in God, therefore, can be many things but what it is not is claiming a believe then living the exact opposite of what you claim. A life without fruit is void of faith as faith in something brings forth desire and action: It’s important to remember that when we believe, we do our best for even Satan believes in God: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19).