What do you believe?

There is one regret I have in my life. That I did not believe in God sooner. The irony of that is that I have believed in God as long as I can remember. I have had faith in Jesus Christ all of my cognizant life. In preschool, my parents were told I would become a pastor. So what is this regret?

I did believe in God, but my "god" was way too small. Why? I allowed the world to determine my depth of faith in God. When I was young, I read the Bible and I believed it. By this, I don't speak of the creation narratives or whether Jonah was actually swallowed by a fish. In fact, it really amazes me how people can get hung up arguing one way or the other about such things and miss the truly important things that are revealed to us in the Bible. Namely, that God is real. He is powerful, loving, and mysterious. AND He chooses to be actively involved in our lives.

God is neither passive nor impotent (meaning "without power" people). He sends angels. He heals the sick. He raises the dead. He gives people words of prophecy. The list really goes on and on.

I really believed that when I was young. Over time, that belief waned. I lacked confidence in the power of God. Now here is the interesting thing about that. This did not happen because God failed to show himself. Over the course of my life, I have seen God act in power in the lives of people. I have seen and experienced miracles.

However, so many people choose to ignore such things. They are convinced that God is distant, uninvolved, powerless. Yes, of course, there are many people without any faith who believe this way. But the startling reality is that there are an overwhelming number of people who are Christians whose lives reflect such a belief. This way of thinking is so prevalent that it effectively underminds the faith of those who believe in the power and presence of our God. It did so for me. And that's has been the regret of my life.

Until now. God has thankfully renewed that belief in my life. He did that by putting strong people of faith in my life and revealing the truth to me through his word. I don't just believe in a god. I don't even just simply believe in God. I believe in the God of the Bible. I believe in the God of power and might. I believe in the God who heals the sick and gives sight to the blind. I believe in the God who so loved us that he sent his Son, Jesus the Christ. I believe that Christ revealed to us the grace, love and power of His Father in heaven. I believe that before Jesus ascended to his Father, he sent the Holy Spirit to live with and in every follower. I believe that by the Holy Spirit, God still acts with power in and through the lives of those who put their faith in Him. What do you believe?

Sick

That's what I am. Sick. So for those of you who bless me by reading this blog, I'm sorry. My sinuses are pounding so hard that nothing worth saying seems to come to mind. Of course, I do understand that blogging historically has little to do with having something worth saying. In that, I mean that the beauty of blogging is that it is accessible to all. It is not reserved for the literary elite or the talented communicator. Anyone can share their thoughts, dreams, fears, joys, beliefs, opinions, prejudices. Then the public can decide whether its worthy to read. In this sense, blogs have the possibility to contain more authenticity and cultural relativity than any other piece of writing.

Then again, a lot of it, like this blog, is just junk. lol.