Why do you believe in God?

The other night I was asked this question by a friend who is going through a difficult time.

It’s a question I have thought about frequently, obviously, and when the heat pressed hard…I found myself, not without words…but lacking in eloquency. (I know. This isn’t a word. It’s ok.)

As I talked to my friend about why she didn’t believe and arguing for why I did…I thought, “We have gotten it so wrong. People have totally destroyed not only the gift of the world, that has already been saved once, but even that message of saving grace.”

The people who I remember standing at bus stops at UGA, who my friends and I dubbed the Christian Cowboys due to their so lovely cowboy hats, who shouted that sex was sin…so was homosexuality…and if you didn’t know God you were going to Hell…repent of your sins…Hell is coming. Do you know what those cowboys accomplished for God’s kingdom?

Nothing. That’s my humble guess.

The people who I have known that gave me a list of rules that I needed to follow to be forgiven. The things I needed to not  do so that I wasn’t unforgivable.

These people have screwed it up.

Last night my friend said, “I just got so fed up watching everyone tell me one thing and then do the complete opposite. It is totally hypocritical. I mean Jesus’s whole message was love. And that’s not how anyone acts.”

How true is that?

It made me really sad to watch her go through such a hard thing the other night and then listen to her talk about how God doesn’t answer prayers and isn’t there for people.

I don’t blame her though, people need someone to blame. People need someone other than the person right in front of them to point the blame at. So why not God?

On the same note…I was talking to some ladies after Zumba on Friday and one of them asked me how I felt about being a counselor. One of them said, “Isn’t that really sad work though? I mean do you really want to do that? Isn’t it depressing?” My response…I don’t know how counselors could be counselors without faith in something bigger. This is the truth…I can’t imagine.

If I believed that broken people, broken relationships, hatred, vengeance, and selfishness were all that there were in life…then I would never want to be a counselor. I would want to drink myself silly everyday…I would have fake lots-of-things on my body…I would never stay in any one place for very long so as to not get too attached to anyone…I would probably have few friends because who wants friends when you know they really probably only care about themselves and not you…not I. That’s probably where I would be if I didn’t believe in something bigger.

My sister has a post-it note on her door, it says “Faith is what you believe, not what you know.”

So here is what I believe…and also what I believe I know…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:4

And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” Revelation 1:5 

I [Jesus] can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. John 5:30

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

The Bible is God-breathed, inspired, holy, work of God. It is a historical document that has lasted thousands of years, despite the passage of time.

I showed grace to someone on Friday in a way that I absolutely did not want to. I would not have been able to do that without God.

I have felt God’s peace in times I thought peace was impossible amidst the chaos I stood. 

I have felt love that is beyond human nature and capacity. I have given love that is bigger than my heart could imagine. 

Forgiveness is a concept that has become real — not just a nice idea.

My friend said last night that God is just an idea that gives people hope and makes them feel better. In a way she’s right. He absolutely gives hope and makes people feel better. But he isn’t just an idea. Or a figment of someone’s wild imagination. 

The crazy thing about God and His love is it is a crazy love. You kind of have to be crazy to believe that His love could be so real. 

I know that there are things I cannot explain. There are things that I do not understand. And…as you can see, there are many things that I cannot put into eloquent words. 

But I know this…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. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. {John 1:1-5}